Massachusetts man sentenced for fraud, theft of veteran's identity

BOSTON — A suburban Boston man was sentenced in federal court Thursday in connection with stealing the identity of an American armed services veteran. 

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), with the assistance of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General and Social Security Administration’s Office of Investigations.

Noe Arturo Castillo, 43, of Chelsea, Massachusetts, was sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $21,082 to the federal government.  In July 2015, Castillo pleaded guilty to aggravated identity theft, wire fraud, passport fraud, theft of public money, and misuse of a Social Security number.  

Castillo is originally from Guatemala and entered the U.S. illegally in 1994. He illegally obtained a driver’s license and Social Security card belonging to an American who was in the military at the time.

In 2005, Castillo applied for a U.S. passport in the victim’s identity.  Castillo then secured a job using the victim’s identity and had his paycheck directly deposited into a bank account using the victim’s identity.  Castillo was later terminated from the job and began collecting unemployment benefits in the victim’s identity, to which he was not entitled.