Jamaican found guilty of passport fraud

TAMPA, Fla. – A Jamaican national living in Spring Hill, Fla., was found guilty Wednesday of making a false and fraudulent application for a U.S. passport, identity theft and aggravated identity theft in connection with that false passport application.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, with assistance from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

Vencot Marean Maxwell, 28, faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16.

According to testimony and evidence presented at trial, on March 2, 2010, Maxwell submitted an application for a U.S. passport to an acceptance clerk with the U.S. Postal Service station at the Tampa International Airport.

On that form, he fraudulently used the means of identification of a resident from the Virgin Islands, and posed as that individual in seeking the passport. An investigation by federal law enforcement agencies detected his fraudulent application and denied issuance of the passport.