Four Plead Guilty to Running Puerto Rican ID Theft Ring

CINCINNATI – Four defendants have pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to charges related to an identity theft ring operated with Puerto Rican birth certificates and Social Security cards.

Oris Mercedes Baez Ramirez, 50, of Hamilton, Ramon E. Fuentes Morillo, 50, of Puerto Rico, and Cipriano Diaz, 39, of Cincinnati, and Chilango Zuniga, 40, of Hamilton, all pleaded guilty to charges related mail and wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.

Benjamin C. Glassman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Division, and Angela L. Byers, Special Agent in Charge, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Cincinnati Field Division, Christopher White, Assistant Inspector in Charge, U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), Marlon V. Miller, Special Agent in Charge, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), and Elias Papoulias, Resident Agent in Charge, Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General, announced the pleas entered into before U.S. District Susan J. Dlott.

According to court documents, beginning at least as early as April 2014 and continuing until July 2015, the defendants conspired to enrich themselves by trafficking in Puerto Rican birth certificates and Social Security cards. Some document sets were issued to real people and some were illegally manufactured using the names and information of real people.

The defendants tried to avoid detection by using fake names on the document packages they sent via Priority or Express Mail to various addresses. They wired money to and from Puerto Rico in order to purchase more documents to then sell at a profit.

Ramirez pleaded guilty on January 20 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and four counts of aggravated identity theft.

Morillo pleaded guilty on February 23 to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, four counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of money laundering.

Diaz pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, two counts of aggravated identity theft and one count of money laundering.

Zuniga also pleaded guilty yesterday to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.

Conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud and money laundering are crimes punishable by up to 20 years in prison. Each count of aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory two year addition to sentences for the underlying felony offense.

Nine individuals were indicted in total in this case. The other co-defendants include:

Jorge Roblero, 35, of Cincinnati

Kathya Roblero, 50, of Cincinnati

Esmeralda Hernandez Cervantes, 36, of Cincinnati

Susana Angiolina Urena, 45, of Hamilton

Fernano Evelio Velasquez-Morales, 32, of Cincinnati

Acting U.S. Attorney Glassman commended the cooperative investigation of this case by law enforcement, as well as Assistant United States Attorney Jessica W. Knight and Cincinnati Branch Chief Emily N. Glatfelter, who are representing the United States in this case.