Citizen of Ecuador Sentenced to 18 Months in Prison for Passport Fraud

            CONCORD, N.H. – Einstin Antonio Cantos, 40, a citizen of Ecuador who was residing in California, has been sentenced to serve 18 months in prison for making false statements on an application for a United States passport, announced Acting United States Attorney John J. Farley.

            According to court documents, in December 2005, Cantos completed an application for a U.S. passport using the name, date of birth, social security number, and other personal identifying information that belong to a United States citizen, “J.S.”  The application was submitted to the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with passport-sized photographs of Cantos and a certified copy of J.S.’s birth certificate.  Relying on the information in the application and the supporting documentation, the Passport Center issued a U.S. passport to Cantos in J.S.’s name.  In 2013, Cantos applied for a U.S. passport card in the name of J.S.  He later obtained a passport card based upon his false representation that he was J.S. 

            Cantos pleaded guilty on September 1, 2017 to making false statements.  After serving his time in prison, he will be deported back to Ecuador.

            “It is vital to ensure that United States passports are not issued to individuals who are not entitled to receive them,” said Acting U.S. Attorney Farley.  “In order to protect the integrity of the passport process, those who use fraud or false statements in order to obtain passports will be identified and prosecuted.”

             “The Diplomatic Security Service is firmly committed to working with the U.S. Department of Justice and our other law enforcement partners to investigate allegations of crime related to passport and visa fraud and to bring those who commit these crimes to justice,” said Michael Bishop, Special Agent-in-Charge of the Los Angeles Field Office of the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS).

            The U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service investigated the case.  Assistant United States Attorney Robert Kinsella prosecuted the case.

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