Guatemalan illegal alien sentenced to 2 years in federal prison for identity theft in multi-million dollar Missouri conspiracy

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – A Guatemalan citizen was sentenced in federal court Thursday to two years in prison in connection to a conspiracy to provide false identity documents to more than 100 illegal aliens.

This sentence resulted from a lengthy investigation by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General (SSAOIG), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), the Missouri State Highway Patrol, the Missouri Department of Revenue’s Investigation Bureau, the St. Joseph, Mo., Police Department, and sheriffs’ departments from Buchanan and Platte counties in Missouri.

Pedro Pablo-Solis, 29, a resident in Liberal, Kan., was sentenced for aggravated identity theft to two years in federal prison without parole.

Pablo-Solis had previously pleaded guilty to the charge Sept. 23. He is the fifth and final defendant in the conspiracy to be sentenced in this case.

Illegal aliens traveled across the United States to obtain driver’s licenses at the St. Joseph license office by using unlawfully obtained birth certificates and Social Security cards. It is estimated that more than 100 Missouri licenses were unlawfully issued to illegal aliens as part of this conspiracy between July 1, 2010 and Jan. 10, 2012.

Pablo-Solis’s role in the conspiracy was to obtain genuine Social Security cards and birth certificates that were later used by illegal aliens to fraudulently obtain Missouri identification documents. Pablo-Solis, who is himself an illegal alien, provided co-defendant Domingo Ajanel-Castro, 33, a citizen of Guatemala residing in St. Joseph, with identification documents for a specific age range for either a male or a female that corresponded with the illegal alien who was purchasing the document set.

The following St. Joseph residents have been sentenced in this case:

• Thomas Richard McNamara III, 27, formerly an employee at the license office,
• Hector Juarez Mendoza Sr., 55, a U.S. permanent resident from Mexico,
• Isabel Ramirez Mendoza, 62, wife of Mendoza, and
• Ajanel-Castro.

Each pleaded guilty to their roles in a conspiracy to unlawfully produce identification documents, unlawfully transfer the means of identification of another person, and commit Social Security fraud and aggravated identity theft. Ajanel-Castro also pleaded guilty to possessing false or fraudulently obtained identification documents.