Document and Benefit Fraud

An investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Maryland; along with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services; Department of State Diplomatic Security Service and the U.S. Attorney’s Office ​for Maryland, led to federal charges for four individuals — Ella Zuran, 65, Tatiana Sigal, 74, and Alexandra Tkach, 41, of New York City, New York; along with Shawnta Hopper, 33, of Sicklerville, New Jersey — for facilitating visa and marriage fraud.

ICE arrested Elieser Aurelio Gomez-Zelaya, 33, an illegal alien from Honduras, March 31.

According to the indictment, Juan Antonio Ruiz, 47, became a naturalized U.S. citizen in June 2015. The indictment alleges that Ruiz, during his citizenship process, falsely answered “no” to questions about any crimes he had committed but had not been arrested for.

As part of the scheme, the defendants stole the personally identifiable information of hundreds of victims — including Social Security numbers, dates of birth and home addresses — and used that information to make fake driver’s licenses to access credit in the victims’ names at large national retailers, including Ulta Beauty, Sephora, Nordstrom, Macy’s, Kohl’s, Williams-Sonoma, Dillard’s and Saks Fifth Avenue.

Jean Morose Viliena, 52, was convicted of three counts of visa fraud. Sentencing is scheduled for June 20, 2025.

Liene Tavares De Barros, Jr., 39, is charged with one count of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature.

Tomas Emilio Hernandez Cruz, 71, from West Park was arrested at his residence after an investigation into fraudulent claims he made on his immigration application.

Manual Domingos Pita, of Wesley Chapel, previously pleaded guilty to those charges on July 9, 2024.

The goal of this operation was to arrest individuals perpetrating access device fraud through unauthorized cash withdrawals from victim Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards.

Elmer Edin Chavarria-Morales, 32, of Honduras, to 3 years and 10 months in federal prison for illegally reentering the United States after deportation. Chavarria-Morales entered a guilty plea on Aug. 28, 2024.