Dominican National Pleads Guilty to Identity Fraud

 Defendant previously deported on four occasions

BOSTON – A Dominican national pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Worcester to identity fraud charges and illegal reentry after deportation.

Pedro Wilson Hernandez-Castillo, 49, pleaded guilty to false representation of a Social Security number, aggravated identity theft and unlawful reentry of a deported alien. U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman scheduled sentencing for Oct. 1, 2021. Hernandez-Castillo was charged in a superseding indictment in February 2021.

On June 15, 2020, Hernandez-Castillo was stopped by a state trooper while driving and asked to provide his identification. The defendant provided the driver’s license and Social Security card of another individual. After determining that the defendant provided false information, the state trooper arrested Hernandez-Castillo.

Hernandez-Castillo illegally re-entered the United States after being deported in August 2018 following a conviction for possession with intent to distribute cocaine and heroin. Hernandez-Castillo was removed from the United States on four previous occasions: December 1998, June 2000, August 2011 and August 2018. 

The charge of false representation of a Social Security number provides for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of unlawful reentry after deportation provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft provides for a mandatory two-year prison sentence that must run consecutively to any other sentence imposed, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based on the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Todd Lyons, Field Office Director of Enforcement and Removal Operations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Boston; and William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston made the announcement. Valuable assistance was also provided by the Massachusetts State Police. Assistant U.S. Attorney Lucy Sun of Mendell’s Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.