US Attorney's Office News
September 26, 2008
LURAY DOCTOR PLEADS GUILTY TO WIRE FRAUD, TAX PERJURY
Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that Francis Habo George, age 59, of Luray, Virginia, pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg to wire fraud and tax perjury charges.
George, a licensed medical doctor with a practice in a rural area of Luray, Virginia, waived his right to indictment and instead pled guilty to a two-count information charging him with one count of wire fraud and one count of tax perjury. Both charges relate to George’s misuse of federal grant funds issued by the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration.
“This office is committed to investigating and prosecuting all incidents in which individuals who have earned the public’s trust, such as medical doctors, take advantage of that trust and engage in criminal activity,” Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “Mr. George took a Federal Grant intended to improve conditions for his patients and instead used taxpayer money to line his own pockets.”
According to evidence presented at today’s hearing by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, III, George applied for, and received, a $393,000 grant from the United States Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration in 2003. The grant was to be used specifically to renovate the building that housed George’s medical practice.
In order to obtain the money, George initiated payments through a computer program which caused a wire transfer from the Federal Reserve Bank in Richmond into his business account. The defendant received a total of $327,000 in grant funds, with a majority of those funds being used improperly. Today in court, George admitted that instead of paying for building upgrades at his practice, he used the grant funds to make his property mortgage payments, pay his son’s college room and board, make payments on a Discover credit card and pay for unrelated personal legal fees and other personal obligations.
Today in District Court George also admitted that he committed tax perjury in 2005 for calendar year 2004 by submitting a false tax return. According to the defendant, on his 2004 tax return, form 1040, page 1, line 22, he listed his total income in the amount of $11,484.50. However, George failed to report at least an additional total income of $150,000.
The maximum penalty faced by the defendant is 23 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000.
The investigation of the case was conducted by the Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Luray, VA Police Department. Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, III is prosecuting the case for the United States.
September 22, 2008
OHIO BMV EMPLOYEE PLEADS GUILTY TO CONSPIRACY
Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that Michelle Eckerman, age 27, of Canal Winchester, Ohio, pled guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Charlottesville today to actions related to her involvement in a conspiracy to produce and distribute fraudulent Ohio identification cards.
Eckerman, an employee of the Scarborough Boulevard Deputy Register’s Office for the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles [BMV] in Columbus, Ohio, was involved in a conspiracy that used authentic, but fraudulently obtained, Puerto Rican birth certificates and matching Social Security numbers to secure authentic, but fraudulently obtained Ohio identification documents. Eckerman used her position with the BMV to falsely process over 200 applications for Ohio identification cards using Puerto Rican Social Security numbers.
“The United States Attorney’s Office places a great deal of emphasis on prosecuting those who engage in identity fraud as well as those who assist in perpetrating identity theft and identity fraud,” Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “Through her employment with the Ohio BMV, Ms. Eckerman was at a key juncture in preventing identity fraud. She single handedly processed over 200 applications for identification cards, a large number of those applications resulted in the issuance of identity cards to individuals who had entered the United States illegally.”
The defendant, along with several co-defendants, was indicted in March 2008 and charged with one count of conspiracy and one count of conspiracy to traffic identity documents. Today in District Court she pled guilty to one count of conspiracy.
According to evidence presented at today’s hearing by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, III, Eckerman was employed at the Scarborough BMV where her duties included, but were not limited to, the processing of applications for identity documents.
Illegal immigrants, who previously purchased authentic but fraudulently obtained Puerto Rican documents from defendant Edwin Mendez, were transported to the Columbus, Ohio home of Jose Gutierrez-Ramirez and Christina Cheatham by defendant Jairo Gomez and told they would be transported to the Scarborough Boulevard BMV and given further instructions by Gutierrez-Ramirez.
Once at the BMV, Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham would instruct the illegal immigrants to go to Eckerman and defendant Nekia Mack-Fuller, a BMV employee, for assistance in obtaining identification documents. Eckerman and Mack-Fuller routinely produced Ohio identification cards for the illegal immigrants and were given “tips” by Gutierrez-Ramirez for their assistance.
Today in District Court, Eckerman admitted that the Scarborough BMV was aware that “tips” were being provided by Gutierrez-Ramirez for processing identity card applications, though it was not reported to the Ohio Director of Public Safety investigators and no record of the amount of each “tip” was maintained or reported to the Internal Revenue Service.
During an October 4, 2008 undercover operation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) agents, Eckerman was observed advising defendant Cheatham that an individual applying for an identity card needed to re-sign the application using the name contained on the Puerto Rican birth certificate, which was being presented as an identity source document, because he had signed the wrong name.
The maximum penalty faced by the defendant is 5 years imprisonment and/or a fine of $250,000.
The investigation of the case was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Labor Office of Labor, Racketeering and Fraud Investigation, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations for the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia . Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, III, will prosecute the case for the United States. Mr. Hogeboom will be assisted by a Special Assistant from Immigration and Custom Enforcement Assistant Counsel and Commonwealth of Virginia Assistant Attorney General Phillip Figura.
September 2, 2008
FOUR PLEAD GUILTY TO PARTICIPATING IN A CONSPIRACY TO PRODUCE UNLAWFUL IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS
Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley announced today that four defendants charged with participating in a conspiracy to produce unlawful identification documents have pled guilty today in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg.
Entering guilty pleas today were Jario Gomez, age 32, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, Edwin Mendez, age 32, of Harrisonburg, Virginia, Luis E. Toro, a.k.a. “Luis Rosado-Rodriguez,” age 29, of Ponce, Puerto Rico and Efrain Sanchez-Aparicio, a.k.a “Juan LNU,” age 23, of Harrisonburg, Virginia.
“The United States Attorney’s Office places a great emphasis on enforcing our nation’s immigration laws,” Acting United States Attorney Julia C. Dudley said today. “This office will continue to prosecute those individuals who commit identity fraud in order to evade discovery of their illegal status.”
Today in District Court, Gomez, Mendez, Toro and Sanchez-Aparicio pled guilty to one count each of participating in a conspiracy to create false identification documents and aggravated identity theft. All four face a maximum sentence of seven years of Federal incarceration when they are sentenced December 10, 2008.
Each of the defendants who pled guilty today, along with Nekeia Mack-Fuller, age 29, of Reynoldsburg, Ohio, Christina Dawn Cheatham, age 23, of Columbus, Ohio, Michelle Eckerman, age 27, of Canal Winchester, Ohio and Jose Antonio Gutierrez-Ramirez, age 34, of Columbus, Ohio, were charged in March with a variety of crimes related to the production and sale of false United States identification documents.
Previously, Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham pled guilty to one count of participating in a conspiracy to create false United States identification documents. Gutierrez-Ramirez also pled guilty to one count of aggravated identify theft.
All of the accused have been charged with conspiring to produce, transfer, possess and use unlawful identification documents between January 2004 and February 2008. The conspiracy was designed to allow the defendants to enrich themselves by fraudulent means through the trafficking of identity documents and State of Ohio identity cards. Furthermore, the use of Puerto Rican birth certificates and matching Social Security cards prevented detection of the true identity of individuals purchasing those identity documents.
According to evidence presented at today’s guilty plea hearing by Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, each of the defendants admitted to participating in unique aspects of the conspiracy.
According to a statement of facts regarding the case, Toro admitted that he began selling Puerto Rican birth certificates to Mendez, and others, in approximately 1999. Mendez admitted in court today that he would in-turn sell the Puerto Rican source documents to individuals who were in the United States illegally and needed the paperwork to secure state identification cards to be used for employment.
The individuals who bought the source documents, with the assistance of defendants Aparicio and Gomez, would travel to Columbus, Ohio to meet defendants Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham in order to obtain Ohio identification cards.
Gutierrez-Ramirez’s major function within the conspiracy was to transport individuals with illegally obtained Puerto Rican or Texas Birth Certificates and matching Social Security Cards to the Scarbourgh Boulevard BMV in Ohio.
Gutierrez-Ramirez’s residence served as a staging area where individuals received instructions and directions from Gutierrez-Ramirez and other members of the conspiracy prior to being transported to the Scarborough Boulevard BMV location. Gutierrez-Ramirez, and others, filed out applications and acted as “interpreters” at the Scarbourgh Boulevard BMV.
Employees at the BMV, specifically Mack-Fuller and Eckerman used the information provided by Gutierrez-Ramirez and the source documents to cause the issuance of Ohio Identity documents. A number of the impersonators used the Ohio Identity cards to obtain employment within the Western District of Virginia.
The investigation of the case was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Department of Labor Office of Labor, Racketeering and Fraud Investigation, the Virginia Attorney General’s Office and the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigations for the United States Attorney’s Office, Western District of Virginia . Assistant United States Attorney C. Patrick Hogeboom, III, will prosecute the case. Mr. Hogeboom will be assisted by Special Assistants from Immigration and Custom Enforcement Assistant Counsel and Commonwealth of Virginia Assistant Attorney General Phillip Figura.
