Lawrence Man Sentenced for Identity Theft, Social Security and Passport Fraud

BOSTON – A Lawrence man was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for stealing the identity of a United States citizen to fraudulently obtain a United States passport.

Arciliano Gregorio Arias Suarez, 65, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to two years and one day in prison and two years of supervised release. In November 2022, Arias Suarez pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated identity theft, one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of passport fraud. 

In January 2016, Arias Suarez submitted a U.S. passport application at a post office in Lawrence in the name of a United States citizen from New York. In support of the fraudulent passport application, Aris Suarez submitted copies of a Massachusetts driver’s license and a New York birth certificate, both in the victim’s name. Later, in May 2019, Aris Suarez submitted a license renewal application at the Lawrence Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) in the name of the same victim and provided the RMV with a copy of a U.S. passport, a Massachusetts driver’s license and a Social Security card all in the victim’s name.

Arias Suarez has two prior federal heroin related convictions in the District of Massachusetts. He was sentenced to federal prison in both of those cases.

United States Attorney Rachael S. Rollins and Michael J. Krol, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney David G. Tobin of Rollins’ Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.