Two Guatemalan nationals face federal charges in what prosecutors call a conspiracy to provide false identify documents through the license office in St Joseph.
Acting U.S. Attorney David Ketchmark on Wednesday announced a federal indictment charging Domingo Ajanel-Castro, 33, and Pedro Pablo-Solis, 28, with conspiracy and other crimes.
The superseding indictment announced Wednesday replaces an earlier indictment that charged only Ajanel-Castro.
In addition to the conspiracy, Ajanel-Castro and Pablo-Solis are charged together in three counts of aggravated identity theft, three counts of Social Security fraud and two counts of illegally transferring a person’s identity documents to another person.
Ajanel-Castro resides in St Joseph. Pablo-Solis lives in Liberal, Kansas. Ketchmark says both are in the country illegally.
Ajanel-Castro is also charged with four more counts of aggravated identity theft, two counts of illegally producing identification documents, one count of possessing false documents, one count of making a false statement on a federal document and one count of illegally reentering the United States after having been deported.
According to the indictment, the pair conspired to provide false identity documents so that more than 100 illegal immigrants could fraudulently obtain driver’s and non-driver’s licenses.
The indictment says they participated in a conspiracy from July 1, 2010, to Jan. 10, 2012, to sell fraudulent birth certificates and Social Security cards in the names of others. Then, their customers would travel from across the United States to obtain licenses at the St. Joseph license office by using the unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards. It is estimated that well over 100 Missouri licenses have been unlawfully issued to illegal aliens as part of this conspiracy.
In a news release, Ketchmark says Ajanel-Castro allegedly received identification document sets from Pablo-Solis, who obtained and sold state-issued birth certificates and corresponding Social Security cards in matching document sets. Ajanel-Castro then sold the document sets to the illegal aliens, the indictment says, for between $500 and $950 for the document sets and the licenses.
The illegal aliens were then charged an additional fee of approximately $100 to be escorted to the license office in St. Joseph. Individuals accompanied illegal aliens into the St. Joseph license office under the guise of being translators, the indictment says, in order to assist them with obtaining a Missouri license that was in the name of another person who was listed on unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards.
These individuals would assist illegal aliens in preparing for potential questions from the license office employees, such as learning the names on the birth certificates, the names of the parents on the birth certificates, the dates of birth and the Social Security numbers, as well as practicing signing the name similar to the signature that appeared on the Social Security card. Individuals also assist the illegal aliens who did not live in Missouri by providing them with a Missouri residential address to use in order to obtain the license, the indictment says.