Albuquerque Man Pleads Guilty to Federal Identity Theft Charge

ALBUQUERQUE – David William Welbig, 66, of Albuquerque, N.M., pleaded guilty this morning in Albuquerque federal court to an aggravated identity theft charge.  The charge to which Welbig pleaded guilty today arose out of his efforts to evade arrest on interstate transportation of stolen securities charges filed April 1991 in the U.S. District Court for the District of Colorado.

Welbig was indicted on Nov. 4, 2014, and charged with using a passport obtained by a false statement, and aggravated identity theft. The indictment alleged that in July 2014, Welbig concealed his identity and sought to evade arrest by using a passport issued to a person who was deceased.  It also alleged that Welbig committed aggravated identity theft by using the identification, namely, a passport, of another person.  Welbig was charged with committing these offenses in Bernalillo County, N.M.

During this morning’s proceedings, Welbig pled guilty to Count 2 of the indictment, charging him with aggravated identity theft.  Welbig admitted that in order to evade arrest by law enforcement officials on an outstanding indictment and arrest warrant issued in the District of Colorado in 1991, he used the identification information of a deceased person to obtain a U.S. passport.  At sentencing, Welbig faces a statutory penalty of two years in federal prison and a year of supervised release following his term of imprisonment.  His sentencing hearing has yet to be scheduled.

The indictment filed against Welbig in the District of Colorado was transferred to the District of New Mexico in Sept. 2014.  In Oct. 2014, Welbig entered guilty pleas to all three counts of interstate transportation of stolen securities in the indictment.  Welbig is scheduled to be sentenced on those charges on April 14, 2015, and faces a maximum statutory penalty of ten years in prison followed by three years of supervised release on each of the three counts. 

This case was investigated U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service and is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Norman Cairns.