Woman From Dominican Republic Convicted Of Using Phony Passport To Re-Enter United States

NEWARK, N.J. – A citizen of the Dominican Republic was convicted at trial today of several crimes related to her effort to re-enter the United States with a phony passport, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced.

Angela De Jesus-Concepcion, 35, of New York, was convicted of all three counts of the indictment against her: false claim of U.S. citizenship, use of a U.S. passport obtained by false statement, and aggravated identity theft. Following a one week trial before U.S. District Judge William Walls, the jury deliberated one hour before returning the guilty verdicts.

According to documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial:

On March 17, 2012, De Jesus-Concepcion attempted to enter the United States at Newark Airport from the Dominican Republic. At CBP passenger processing she presented a United States passport bearing the name of an identity theft victim and De Jesus-Concepcion’s photograph.  She also filled out a customs declaration using the victim’s name and the number of the passport that she was carrying. Customs and Border Protection conducted a secondary inspection and found a New Jersey driver’s license bearing the victim’s name and De Jesus-Concepcion’s photograph along with a Visa debit card in De Jesus-Concepcion’s own name. At trial, it was proven that the passport being carried by De Jesus-Concepcion had been obtained using an earlier version of the New Jersey driver’s license bearing the victim’s name and De Jesus-Concepcion’s photograph and a replacement naturalization certificate, also bearing the victim’s name and De Jesus-Concepcion’s photograph.

The count of false claim of citizenship carries a maximum potential penalty of three years in prison. The count of use of a passport obtained by false statement carries a maximum potential penalty of 10 years in prison. The count of aggravated identity theft carries a maximum potential penalty of two years in prison, consecutive to any sentence imposed on the other two counts. Sentencing is scheduled for Jan. 6, 2015.

U.S. Attorney Fishman credited officers of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, under the leadership of Robert E. Perez, director of New York Field Operations, for the investigation leading to today’s conviction. He also thanked the Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, for its investigation.

The government is represented Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sara F. Merin of the General Crimes Unit and Shirley U. Emehelu of the Economic Crimes Unit in Newark.

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Defense counsel: Kathleen Theurer Esq., Jersey City, N.J.

De Jesus-Concepcion, Angela Superseding Indictment