2002-10-23 -- Turner, Andrea -- Guilty Plea -- News Release
Social Security Employee Admits Taking Cash to Produce ID Cards for Illegal Aliens
NEWARK - A service representative with the Social Security Administration pleaded guilty today to conspiring to transfer social security cards to illegal aliens, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.
Andrea Turner, 39, of Linden, admitted before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to accepting money from her co-defendant, Victor Pacheco, in exchange for processing more than 200 social security card applications for illegal aliens who Turner knew were not entitled to the cards. Turner, who worked at a Social Security Administration (SSA) office in Elizabeth, further admitted to adding fraudulent alien status information to the applications, to make it appear that the applicants were permitted to obtain the cards. Turner's conduct took place from approximately August 2000 through April 2002.
In July, a grand jury indicted Turner, as well as Pacheco, 44, of Elizabeth. Judge Hayden scheduled Turner's sentencing for Jan. 27 at 10 a.m. The charges against Pacheco are pending.
The charge to which Turner pleaded guilty, conspiring to transfer identification documents produced without lawful authority, carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Boxer.
Turner remains free pending sentencing on $25,000 bail. She has been suspended without pay from her position with SSA pending resolution of her case. Turner has been employed with the SSA since 1981.
According to the criminal complaint previously filed in the case, in April SSA investigators determined that Turner had processed improperly more than 200 social security card applications for people who were neither United States citizens nor legal aliens. The complaint also revealed that the alien status information that Turner listed on the applications was invalid, and that many of the cards were sent to the same address.
According to the complaint, on April 23 an Inspector with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service delivered five of the cards in question to an address in Elizabeth. According to the complaint, Pacheco personally received and signed for the cards at that address. During questioning by law enforcement officers, Pacheco admitted that he had received previously more than 50 social security cards at that address and other addresses and that he had sold the cards for a fee.Turner also provided a statement to Special Agents of the Social Security Administration, according to the complaint. She admitted today that at the request of Pacheco, she processed hundreds of social security cards based on invalid alien status information. She further stated that Pacheco paid her to do so.
Under U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, the sentencing judge will determine Turner's actual sentence based on a formula that takes into account the severity and characteristics of the offense and her criminal history, if any. Parole has been abolished in the federal system. Under the Sentencing Guidelines, defendants who are given custodial terms must serve nearly all that time.
Christie credited Special Agents of the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General, under the direction of Jane M. Hughes, Assistant Special Agent In Charge, and to inspectors of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, under the direction of Acting Postal Inspector in Charge Ronald Walker, for their handling of the case.
The Government is represented in the case by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew Boxer of the U.S. Attorney's Office.
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Defense Attorney:
Jack Venturi, Esq. New Brunswick