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Press Release

Jury Convicts St. John Woman Of Passport Fraud

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, District of Virgin Islands

St. Thomas, USVI- After a one-day jury trial in District Court on St. Thomas on Tuesday, a federal jury found Glissell Herrera, 32, guilty on two counts charging making a false statement in an application for a United States passport and one count of submitting a false document to a department or agency of the United States, announced United States Attorney Ronald W. Sharpe.

According to the evidence presented at trial, on June 19, 2007, and again on July 19, 2012, Herrera submitted a passport application for the benefit of her minor daughter. In support of those applications, Herrera submitted a fraudulent Puerto Rican birth certificate as proof of the minor’s United States citizenship. Herrera attested that all of the information submitted in furtherance of the passport applications was true. Testimony from the Director of the Department of Vital Statistics revealed that the Department had no record of the minor’s birth in Puerto Rico.

Herrera faces a maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment for the offense of making a false statement in an application for a United States passport, and a maximum of five years imprisonment for submitting a false document to a department or agency of the United States. Herrera also faces a maximum fine of $250,000.00 and a special assessment of $300.00. Herrera remains detained pending sentencing.

U.S. Attorney Sharpe commended the efforts of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, which investigated the case. The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Ishmael A. Meyers Jr.

Updated June 22, 2015