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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
June 10, 2008
MEXICAN MAN WHO BOUGHT TRIBAL MEMBERSHIP BEING DEPORTED AFTER 9 MONTHS IN JAIL
WICHITA, KAN. – A Mexican national who purchased a membership in the so-called Kaweah Indian tribe was sentenced Tuesday to nine months already served and turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.
Jaime Cervantes, 45, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false claim of United States citizenship. In his plea, he admitted that on June 8, 2007, he signed an application for a Social Security card in which he falsely claimed to be a citizen of the United States.
Cervantes was one of 11 defendants charged in a September 21, 2007, indictment alleging that Malcolm L. Webber and others invented a non-existent tribe called the Kaweah Indian Nation as part of a fraudulent scheme to obtain citizenship for illegal and legal immigrants by having them claim to be Native Americans.
Cervantes, who has been in federal custody since he was arrested in September 2007, will be processed by ICE for deportation to Mexico. With the felony conviction, he will be permanently barred from returning to the United States.
A jury trial is scheduled Aug. 5, 2008, for the remaining defendants including Malcolm L. Webber, Debra J. Flynn, Chuck Flynn, Jorge Villareal, Eduviges Del Carmen-Zamora, Angel O. Zamora, Britton A. Bergman, Hector Nolasco Pena and Victor W. Orvellana.
Agencies that took part in the investigation include:
– Immigration and Customs Enforcement
– Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General
– Wichita Police Department
– Diplomatic Security Service of the U.S. Department of State
– Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Office of Inspector General
– United States Postal Inspection Service.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Brent Anderson is prosecuting.
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