A citizen of the Dominican Republic living in Providence has been sentenced to two years in federal prison in a scheme to steal and sell the identities of Puerto Rican U.S. citizens.
The U.S. Attorney’s office said Rafael Lara-Mejia (LAAH’-ruh Muh-HEE’-uh) was sentenced in U.S. District Court on Tuesday. He pleaded guilty in December to one count each of conspiracy to commit identification fraud and conspiracy to encourage an alien to live in the United States for financial gain. He was among those named in a 2011 federal indictment in Puerto Rico.
http://liarcatchers.com/identity_theft_investigation.html
It alleges that conspirators in Puerto Rico illegally obtained Puerto Rican identities and documents. Conspirators throughout the U.S. then found customers and “identity brokers” like Lara-Mejia who sold Social Security cards and birth certificates for between $700 and $2,500 a set.
