Missouri man pleads guilty to selling fake IDs to illegal aliens

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A Missouri man pleaded guilty Monday to his role in a conspiracy that produced and sold thousands of false identity documents to illegal aliens.

This guilty plea was announced by U.S. Attorney Tammy Dickinson, Western District of Missouri. It resulted from an investigation conducted by the following agencies: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), the Social Security Administration's Office of the Inspector General, the Kansas Department of Revenue's Office of Special Investigations, the Missouri Department of Revenue's Compliance Investigation Bureau, and the Clay County (Missouri) Prosecuting Attorney's Office.

Cesar Mujica-Aranda, 25, of Liberty, Missouri, pleaded guilty Sept. 15 before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to the charge contained in a March 20 federal indictment.

By pleading guilty, Mujica-Aranda admitted managing the production of fraudulent identity documents at his Liberty apartment from Sept. 1, 2013 to Feb. 21, 2014. In addition to managing the production of the false identity documents, he also sold these documents to numerous street level dealers. The street dealers typically paid about $50 for each counterfeit document and kept any excess proceeds they were able to obtain from selling the documents.

The fraudulent identity documents that Mujica-Aranda produced included U.S. permanent resident cards (green cards), social security cards and false driver's licenses from various U.S. states, as well as Mexican states. Conspirators produced and sold thousands of false identity documents to illegal aliens so that they could use these document to unlawfully live and work in the United States.

On Jan. 30, Mujica-Aranda threw away a white plastic bag containing shredded pieces of fraudulent identity documents in a trash can at a gas station at St. John Avenue and Belmont in Kansas City.

Early the next morning, a federal agent located the bag in the trash can. The bag contained shredded pieces of fraudulent identity documents and weighed about two pounds. Each piece was about the size of a small paper clip and they were immediately recognizable as fraudulent green cards, social security cards, Missouri non-driver's licenses and Kansas identification cards. The agent also discovered two reels of depleted color card printer ribbon within the shredded pieces. One reel had images of fraudulent green cards. Mujica-Aranda's fingerprints were on items contained in the bag.

Under the terms of the plea agreement, Mujica-Aranda must pay a money judgment for the total amount of money that was obtained by this fraudulent document enterprise. HSI is still evaluating ink ribbons that were seized as part of the investigation and has already identified thousands of identification documents produced by the conspiracy. By the time of sentencing, the government may have a better estimate of how many identification documents it can establish were produced by the conspiracy. The court may elect to multiply this number by how much the conspiracy was selling the false documents to aliens. By Mujica-Aranda's own admission, the documents were sold for no less than $100 per document.

Mujica-Aranda must also forfeit to the government the equipment used to produce fraudulent identity documents, including three computers, a computer hard drive, printers, four cameras, six cell phones, electronic storage devices, other miscellaneous equipment and supplies, and $1,840.

Under federal statutes, Mujica-Aranda faces up to 15 years in federal prison without parole, plus a fine up to $250,000. A sentencing hearing will be scheduled after the U.S. Probation Office completes a presentence investigation.

Special Assistant U.S. Attorney William A. Alford III, Western District of Missouri, is prosecuting this case.