U.S. charges 21 defendants in alleged fraudulent identification document ring

ICE ^ | September 19, 2008

[Calpernia]

U.S. charges 21 defendants in alleged fraudulent identification document ring based in Chicago's Little Village community

CHICAGO - Twenty-one defendants have been charged in federal court for their roles in operating a fraudulent document ring in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood. These charges resulted from a criminal investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Four days after federal agents dismantled an alleged multi-million-dollar organization that manufactured and sold counterfeit identification documents in Little Village in April 2007, one of the leaders of a competing crew gave the signal that the "miqueros" - street vendors - under his supervision could start working again. With the competition shut down, leaders of the crew still operating along 26th Street seized the opportunity to increase their profits by raising prices. And, even though the situation had calmed enough to resume sales, the alleged crew boss believed that it was still too risky for him personally to make any trips to the street or to the manufacturing office, according to new federal charges.

The once-bustling counterfeit identification document business along 26th Street in Little Village was disrupted again yesterday when ICE agents began arresting up to 21 new defendants who allegedly conspired to create and sell fraudulent identification documents as part of the "St. Louis crew," which operated in the vicinity of 26th Street and St. Louis Avenue. Seventeen months ago, nearly two dozen alleged members of the "Albany crew" were arrested for similarly trafficking in counterfeit documents in and around the Discount Mall, located at 26th Street and Albany.

The alleged current leader of the St. Louis crew, Manuel Estrada, also known as "Manny," 31, and Jamie Solis, aka "Jarocho," 30, both of Chicago, who allegedly reported directly to Estrada, were among those who were arrested and charged in two criminal complaints that were unsealed Friday. The charges allege that Solis has been a member of the St. Louis crew for several years, previously working as a runner and manufacturer for the organization. In early 2006, Solis became a mid-level supervisor, reporting directly to Estrada. Their conversations, including discussions about the April 2007 arrests and its effects, were among numerous calls that agents intercepted pursuant to court-authorized wiretaps during the ongoing Operation Paper Tiger investigation that ICE began four years ago.

Estrada and 19 co-defendants were charged in one 183-page complaint with participating in conspiracy since 1999 to illegally produce identification documents, authentication features and false identification documents. A second complaint was filed against Solis alone, charging him with conspiring with others to produce false identification documents. Fifteen of the defendants were arrested since Tuesday night in Chicago, while six others are fugitives, announced U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald, Northern District of Illinois, and Gary J. Hartwig, special agent-in-charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Chicago.

The fraudulent identification documents include resident alien cards ("green cards" or "micas"), social security account number cards ("social security cards"), driver's licenses, and state identification cards.

ICE agents yesterday executed search warrants simultaneously at five locations: 1) 2456 South Homan Ave., Chicago, which allegedly served as the "office" where fraudulent identification documents were produced; 2) Estrada's residence at 4057 South Albany Ave.; 3) Solis' residence at 3034 South Karlov Ave.; 4) Foto Studio Reyes, 2542 South Christiana Ave.; and 5) Foto Davila Inc., 3604 West 26th St. The two photo shops are where individuals allegedly obtained photographs for fraudulent identification documents.

All 15 defendants arrested yesterday were scheduled to have their initial court appearances beginning at 11 a.m. Friday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Mason in U.S. District Court. (A list of the defendants, their alleged roles, and their custody or fugitive status is attached below.)

"Document and benefit fraud poses a significant vulnerability that must not go unchallenged," Mr. Hartwig said. "This action should send the clear message that ICE and its law enforcement partners will identify and dismantle those criminal organizations that perpetrate document fraud. We are committed to ensuring that our nation's security is not breached in this manner."

The Chicago offices of the FBI, the U.S. Secret Service, the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic Security Service, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Branch in Detroit assisted ICE in the investigation, which is continuing, the officials said.

According to the complaint affidavits, the St. Louis crew operated from about 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week, located primarily at the intersection of 26th and St. Louis. According to the Solis complaint, a cooperating witness told agents that Solis reported directly to an individual who controlled that street corner. However, that individual, identified in the Estrada complaint as Estrada, was worried about being arrested so he tried to limit his risk by "renting" the corner to Solis for $700 a week. Solis, who supervised the corner, as well as the South Homan manufacturing office, allegedly kept any organizational profits in excess of the $700 weekly payment.

The crew typically employs between eight and 10 miqueros - also known as solicitors, vendors or sellers - individuals who stand on the street using hand gestures and verbally announcing to pedestrians and vehicles that they have identification documents for sale. A miquero advises customers of the cost of the identity documents and the location of a photography shop - usually Foto Studio Reyes or Foto Davila Inc. - to obtain photos for the documents. A miquero takes the order, photo, and payment from the customer, charging between $110 and $150 for a set of fraudulent documents, and keeps any profit after paying the office about $50 to make the documents. A set consists of a social security card or a green card, and a photo identification card. If the customer wants a social security card by itself, the charge is about $40.

The St. Louis crew also typically employs two runners, who transport orders, photos and money between the miqueros and manufacturers, and two manufacturers - one or both of whom work in an office actually creating fraudulent documents at any given time. The organization can manufacture fraudulent state identification cards or driver's licenses from most of the 50 states. Customers most commonly request identification cards or driver's licenses from Indiana, Wisconsin, Ohio, Texas, Illinois or Michigan.

Members of the crew are primarily of Mexican descent, but the nationalities of its customers vary. Customers have requested green cards for the following countries: Mexico, Colombia, Guatemala, Ecuador, El Salvador, Jamaica, Poland, Czech Republic, Albania, Russia and China. The vast majority of the fraudulent document transactions are conducted in either Spanish or English, sometimes with translators. Customers also include Caucasian and African-American individuals believed to be U.S. citizens. Law enforcement is unaware of any occasion in which the organization declined selling fraudulent identification documents to a customer who had sufficient money to purchase the documents.

In one instance in February, according to the Estrada affidavit, two co-defendants discussed selling nine sets of fraudulent documents to a customer from Ohio. They further discussed that if the documents worked successfully, then that customer was going to return to purchase sets for an entire factory of workers who were not authorized to work in the United States.

The government is being represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Michelle Nasser Weiss, Andrew Porter and David Buvinger.

If convicted, conspiracy to produce fraudulent identification documents carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Note, however, that the Court determines the appropriate sentence to be imposed under the advisory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines.

The public is reminded that a complaint contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendants are presumed innocent and are entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

United States v. Jamie Solis

Jaime Solis, a/k/a "Jarocho," dob 2/14/78, of 3034 S. Karlov Ave.

United States v. Manuel Estrada, et al.

Manuel Estrada, a/k/a "Manny," current leader, 10/27/76, of 4057 S. Albany

Oscar Banda, a/k/a "Perro" and "Balin,"miquero, 8/10/81, of 2418 S. Christiana Ave., 3rd fl.

Martha Elizabeth Campa Rivero, miquero, 7/17/75, of 4445 S. Rockwell, Chicago

Miguel Castaneda Gomez, a/k/a "Pitufo," miquero, 1/15/74, of 118 S. 49th, Cicero

Andres Chiquin, a/k/a "Pelon," miquero, 11/17/77, of 4055 W. 31st St., Cicero

Veronica Garcia Arana, a/k/a "Betty," miquero and manufacturer, 3/8/79, of 2456 S. Homan Ave.

Gerardo Guzman Martinez, a/k/a "Chilango," miquero, 9/22/78, of 3007 S. Trumbull Ave.

Claudia Lara, miquero, 2/13/78, of 2445 S. St. Louis Ave.

Manuel Lopez Perez, miquero and runner, 12/ 8/57, of 4057 S. Albany

Ulyses Martinez, a/k/a "Cuaderno," miquero, 12/18/74, of 2530 S. Spaulding

Hector Medina, a/k/a "Primo," miquero, runner, office worker, 7/11/73, of 2223 S. Trumbull Ave.

Camilo Mendez, miquero, 7/18/71, of 2635 S. St. Louis Ave.

Jorge Abel Miranda, a/k/a "Payaso," miquero, 12/31/62, of 2522 S. Trumbull Ave.

Elias Trinidad Munoz, a/k/a "Blue," miquero, 2/9/87, of 2609 South St. Louis Ave.

Horacio Nevarez Arrellano, a/k/a "Tattoo," miquero, 5/2/67, of 2349 S. Homan Ave.

Jose Luis Perez, "Pantufla," miquero, 6/27/73, of 2730 S. Christiana Ave.

Marcos Perez Contreras, a/k/a "Pajaro," miquero, 5/15/83, of 2635 S. St. Louis Ave.

Carlos Siordia, a/k/a "Rojo," miquero, 8/13/69, of 2700 S. Christiana Ave.

Jose Texca Cocone, a/k/a "Brody," miquero and runner, 3/16/75, of 2417 S. Drake Ave.

Humberto Trejo, a/k/a "Chamaco," miquero, 5/24/88, of 1639 S. Throop St.

-- ICE --

[Calpernia]

I wonder if this is related, or just a coincidence.

Acorn.Org

Little Village listed as an ACORN Key Community

WELCOME to your Chicago ACORN website! Chicago ACORN, honored as Chicago Community Organization of the Year in 2003, is on the move! You’ll see our red t-shirts in our core Chicago communities of Englewood, West Englewood, North Lawndale, and Little Village, in the South Suburbs, in demonstrations on city-wide issues, at city council and school board meetings, and in Springfield when the legislature is in session. ACORN members come together to fight for our communities, join ACORN today to get involved in the exciting campaigns ACORN members are working on, see news for the latest information. The People United Will Never Be Defeated!

[Calpernia]

ICE.gov busts a fraudulent identification document ring based in a Chicago ACORN ‘key community’. Coincidence? Maybe.

[navyguy]

The ACORN site appears to be down. Hopefully they were raided by the FBI.

[bcsco]

This is a ping list promoting Immigration Enforcement and Congressional Reform.
If you wish to be added or removed from this ping list, please contact me.

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[Calpernia]

Here is a screen shot from google cache:

[Houghton M.]

ACORN, for a “community organizer,” doesn’t know its “communities” very well. Little Village is not in the South Suburbs but in the city of Chicago.

[wolfcreek]

Acorn sit down since Saturday. (orders from Barry?)

[Tucker39]

Is Little Village the source of BHO’s COLB? (sarc)

[Calpernia]

Well, if the office was raided or the site is down, they left a trail for people to find them. This site has a 'note'. Click here if we vanish, in essence.

I wonder why Barry never listed his experience in women's apparel?

[Calpernia]

Might be. Don’t know. There is a Chicago location that is the server for Hawaii’s Library and records. So Chicago has access to server files.

[Calpernia]

I didn’t realize Barry Toot was modest. He has been hiding some talents. He has background in the fashion world and has not told us.

[ought-six]

Little Village is pretty close to being 100% Mexican, and its close neighbor Pilsen is just a handful of warm bodies behind it. The Mexican flag is prominently displayed in Little Village and Pilsen, and Spanish is the only language one is apt to hear in those two towns. Northern Illinois has a HUGE Mexican population, at least half of which are illegals. Politicians from Mexico actually come up to the Chicago area to campaign for their races back in Mexico.

[Calpernia]

As per ICE.gov, Chicago and the surrounding areas have a high percentage of illegals from Albania, Belize, Bulgaria, China, Colombia, Croatia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malawi, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Russia and Yugoslavia.

And I am not sure I would readily jump onto Mexico in assuming they are the majority of illegals either. I just found ACORN’s mail server hosted and operated at Peru State College, acornmail.peru.edu

I find this very interesting. ACORN’s online activities being organized in South America? People from Peru speak Spanish.

[Calpernia]

We were both on a thread one time when freeper I wasn’t familiar with posted some ID card for Obama that was issued from South America. Do you remember what freeper that was or specifically what part of South America it was issued from?

[navyguy]

I think its Peru State College in Nebraska. They have an email system there called ACORN.

[Calpernia]

Oh, that was my error. You are right, Peru State College is in Nebraska. I got thrown by that because of the list I saw from ICE showing a high Peru illegal alien state in Chicago. Lots of Peruvian businesses there too.

The ACORNmail is still active at Nebraska and is intertwined with ACORN activisms.

Thanks for that correction.

[pissant]

I don’t recall anything of that nature.

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks!

[Calpernia]

I’ll keep looking. Maybe it was a spoof graphic too.

[Calpernia]

I found it. Is this real?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2059593/posts?page=3#3