Defendant Charged In Immigration Scheme

Wifredo A. Ferrer, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Alysa D. Erichs, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (ICE-HSI), and Linda M. Swacina, District Director, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), announce that Gary Wayne Peters, 58, of Key West, was charged in a nine-count indictment, which included eight counts of wire fraud and one count of encouraging and inducing an alien to reside illegally in the United States for profit.

According to the indictment, Peters defrauded an undocumented alien with initials “M.P.” by falsely claiming that he would assist M.P. obtain legal immigration status in the United States. To accomplish this scheme, Peters told M.P. that he knew certain-named federal immigration agents; that Peters had filed an immigration petition for M.P.; and that the named immigration agents were processing M.P.’s immigration documents. M.P. paid Peters approximately $25,000 for Peters’ supposed assistance with his immigration application. In reality, Peters never filed an immigration petition for M.P., and there were no agents employed by the Department of Homeland Security with the names mentioned.

Mr. Ferrer commended the investigative efforts of ICE-HSI and USCIS. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Cristina Moreno.

An indictment is only an accusation and a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.

A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.