Leader Of Fraudulent Identification Document Conspiracy Sentenced To Prison

CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Today, U.S. District Judge Max O. Cogburn, Jr. sentenced the leader of a fraudulent identification document conspiracy to 39 months in prison, announced R. Andrew Murray, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina.  Juan Diego Gonzalez-Campos, 30, of Mexico, will also be subject to deportation proceedings upon the completion of his federal sentence.  Gonzalez-Campos previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to produce fraudulent identification documents, aggravated identity theft and possession of firearm ammunition by an alien.

Greg Wiest, Acting Special Agent in Charge of ICE/Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Georgia and the Carolinas, joins U.S. Attorney Murray in making today’s announcement.

According to filed court documents and today’s sentencing hearing, from February 2016 to March 2017, Gonzalez-Campos and his co-defendants, Faustino Pelaez-Arellanes, Anabel Salinas-Marin, Hector Tellez-Crisanto, and Socorro Garcia-Merida, engaged in an illegal scheme to produce and transfer fraudulent identification documents, including but not limited to, Social Security cards, birth certificates, and state driver’s licenses.  Gonzalez-Campos sold the falsified documents to numerous individuals, including to undocumented aliens, knowing the documents would be used as proof of eligibility to remain and work in the United States. 

As the ringleader of the conspiracy, Gonzalez-Campos sold the fraudulent documents to individuals that Gonzalez-Campos either knew or were referred to him by his co-defendants.  Court records also show that Gonzalez-Campos and his co-conspirators charged customers between $270 and $1,000 per document, depending on the type of fraudulent identification provided.  According to court records and today’s sentencing hearing, Campos-Gonzalez often produced documents using stolen Social Security numbers of American citizens, to which the conspirators referred as “good numbers,” which often caused impacted individuals problems with filing tax returns and their credit. 

In addition to the fraudulent identification conspiracy, law enforcement recovered 25 Remington Golden Saber High Performance Jacket 9mm luger rounds, which Gonzalez-Campos possessed unlawfully.

In announcing Gonzalez-Campos’s sentence, Judge Cogburn said, “The stealing of identities of real people is causing serious problems in this country.”

Gonzalez-Campos is currently in federal custody and will be transferred to the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.  All federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole.   

ICE-HSI led the investigation. Assistant United States Attorney Kenneth Smith, of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte, is prosecuting the case.