Guatemalan Man Who Used a Fraudulent Social Security Card Sentenced to Prison

A man who used a false identification document and someone else’s name and social security number was sentenced today more than two months in federal prison.

Diego Tomas-Mejia, age 22, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in the United States and residing in Iowa, received the prison term after a November 21, 2019, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of an identification document and one count of misuse of a social security number.

At the guilty plea, Tomas-Mejia admitted he used a fraudulent Social Security card when he completed employment and tax forms using someone else’s name and Social Security Number in January 2017 at a business in Tama, Iowa.

Tomas-Mejia was found by immigration agents in October 2019 at the Tama County Jail after he was arrested for public intoxication and providing a false name to law enforcement officers.  Immigration fingerprint records showed that Tomas-Mejia had illegally entered the United States in August 2014 and was released on bond by the U.S. Border Patrol.  Tomas-Mejia was ordered deported in absentia in December 2015 after he failed to appear for immigration proceedings and his whereabouts were unknown until the current arrest.

Tomas-Mejia was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams.  Tomas-Mejia was sentenced to 72 days’ imprisonment.  He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term.  There is no parole in the federal system.

Tomas-Mejia is being held in the United States Marshal’s custody until he can be turned over to immigration officials.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations. 

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl. 

The case file number is 19-CR-116.

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