August 26, 2015 – A man in Virginia, Ho-Man Lee, 43, plead guilty to “conspiring to unlawfully produce identification documents . . .He was a broker for Young-Kyu Park, 59 . . who led a cross-country criminal enterprise, authorities said.”
The U.S. Attorneys office said that there were up to 22 people being charged with making false identification for illegal immigrants. The criminals spanned multiple states including: California, New York, Georgia, Nevada and Virginia.
The forgers were able to circumvent security put in place after 911 by obtaining I-797 forms from a state employee in California, Martin Trejo. These forms are used by state agencies to authenticate the passport of someone applying for a drivers license.
“The enterprise also altered and counterfeited passports and other immigration documents, and provided fake utility bills and bank statements to help clients establish residency, authorities said.”
Ho-Man Lee gave foreigners official looking documents to apply for drivers licenses in Virginia. He would walk his clients to the motor vehicle office. After being paid, Lee kept part of the payment and sent the remainder of the money to Young-Kyu Park.
All 22 individuals involved in the I.D. scheme have been convicted. Lee received 24 months while Park was sentenced to six years in prison. Trejo received a 26-month prison sentence.
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