A Guatemalan national pleaded guilty in federal court Monday to aggravated identity theft in connection with a conspiracy to provide false identity documents to more than 100 illegal immigrants.
Pedro Pablo-Solis, 28, a citizen of Guatemala residing in Liberal, Kan., pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Brian C. Wimes to aggravated identity theft.
Authorities say his customers used the documents to fraudulently obtain driver’s and non-driver’s licenses from the license office in St. Joseph.
U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson says immigrants traveled across the United States to obtain licenses at the St. Joseph license office by using unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards. It is estimated that well over 100 Missouri licenses were issued as part of the scheme from July 1, 2010, to Jan. 10, 2012.
Pablo-Solis, who is illegally present in the United States, provided co-defendant Domingo Ajanel-Castro, 33, a citizen of Guatemala residing in St. Joseph, with identification documents for a specific age range for either a male or a female that corresponded with the illegal alien who was purchasing the document set.
Pablo-Solis is the fifth and final co-defendant to plead guilty in this case. Thomas Richard McNamara III, 26, formerly an employee at the St. Joseph license office, Hector Juarez Mendoza, Sr., 54, a citizen of Mexico who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, and his wife, Isabel Ramirez Mendoza, 62, and Ajanel-Castro, all of St. Joseph, have pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to unlawfully produce identification documents, unlawfully transfer the means of identification of another person and commit Social Security fraud and to aggravated identity theft. Ajanel-Castro also pleaded guilty to possessing false or fraudulently obtained identification documents.
The Mendozas and others (including family members, such as her minor son) escorted illegal aliens into the St. Joseph license office under the guise of serving as translators. They charged a fee, typically $100, for assisting the illegal aliens to obtain a Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license that was in the name of another person who was listed on unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards.
According to McNamara, it was common knowledge among the employees at the license office that co-conspirators were assisting illegal aliens to obtain licenses.
Pablo-Solis is subject to a mandatory sentence of two years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. Under the terms of today’s plea agreement, Mendoza must forfeit $125,000 to the government. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the completion of a pre-sentence investigation by the United States Probation Office.