Orlando Woman Sentenced For Making And Using Falsified Documents In Passport Applications

Orlando, Florida – U.S. District Judge Carlos E. Mendoza has sentenced Erika Margarita Cordova (41, Orlando) to 8 months in federal prison for making and using false documents in passport applications. She had pleaded guilty on March 21, 2019.

According to court documents, Cordova and her co-defendant, Manuel Domingo Santana, conspired to make a fraudulent document in support of a passport application for one of Cordova’s children. Because the child was a minor, Cordova was required to present a notarized form from the child’s father, confirming his consent to the passport application. Instead of obtaining a consent form from the father, Cordova and Santana made the form appear to have been signed by the father. Santana also recruited an unidentified individual to pose as the father before a notary, so that the form could be notarized before Cordova submitted it with her child’s passport application. Cordova then submitted that form in support of a passport application for her child, without actually having received permission from the child’s father. In total, Cordova made and used false documents in support of passport applications on three separate occasions, for two different children.

In addition, according to evidence presented at sentencing, Cordova tampered with a witness by urging the witness to destroy potential evidence and provide false information to law enforcement.

Santana pleaded guilty on March 21, 2019, and was sentenced to 15 months’ imprisonment on June 7, 2019. 

This case was investigated by the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service and the Department of Homeland Security’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force. It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Emily C. L. Chang.