A Florida man pleaded guilty today for his role in a
large-scale identity trafficking ring, which sold the identities of Puerto
Rican U.S. citizens to foreign nationals to allow them to enter or remain in
the United States illegally. To date, a
total of 14 individuals have been charged for their roles in this identity
trafficking ring, and four have pleaded guilty.
Assistant Attorney General Leslie R. Caldwell of the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa E. Rodríguez-Vélez of the
District of Puerto Rico, Director Sarah R. Saldaña of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement (ICE), Chief Postal Inspector Guy J. Cottrell of the U.S. Postal
Inspection Service (USPIS), Director Bill A. Miller of the Department of
State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) and Chief Richard Weber of the
Internal Revenue Service-Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) made the announcement.
Rey David Bravo-Aguirre, 43, of Bartow, Florida, pleaded
guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of
conspiracy to commit alien smuggling for financial gain and one count of
transferring and possessing means of identification of another person during
and in relation to a felony. A
sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 3, 2015, before U.S. District Judge
Juan M. Pérez- Giménez of the District of Puerto Rico.
According to his plea agreement, Bravo-Aguirre operated as a
broker of Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents out of
Bartow, Florida. In that role,
Bravo-Aguirre received identity documents from other members of the conspiracy
located in the Caguas-area of Puerto Rico and sold them to individuals
unlawfully residing in Florida.
Specifically, Bravo-Aguirre admitted that he provided Social Security
cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates to his customers.
The charges are the result of Operation Island Express II,
an ongoing, nationally-coordinated investigation led by ICE’s Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI), USPIS, DSS and IRS-CI offices in Chicago, in coordination
with the ICE-HSI San Juan Office. The
Illinois Secretary of State Police also provided substantial assistance. The ICE-HSI Attaché office in the Dominican
Republic, National Drug Intelligence Center - Document and Media Exploitation
Branch and International Organized Crime Intelligence and Operations Center
(IOC-2) provided invaluable assistance, as well as various ICE, USPIS, DSS and
IRS CI offices around the country.
The case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Marianne
Shelvey of the Criminal Division’s Organized Crime and Gang Section and William
Kenety of the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions
Section, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jorge Ramos of the District of
Puerto Rico.
Potential victims and the public may obtain information
about the case at: www.justice.gov/criminal/vns/caseup/beltrerj.html. Anyone who believes their identity may have
been compromised in relation to this investigation may contact the ICE
toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) and its online tip form at
www.ice.gov/tipline. Anyone who may have
information about particular crimes in this case should also report it to the
ICE tip line or website.
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