thewetumpkaherald.com
WETUMPKA, Alabama -- When a local credit union reported suspicious account activity to the Wetumpka Police Department, investigators went to work backtracking along a paper trail. And at the end of that path, officers found an operation dealing in counterfeit identification for illegal aliens.
“We suspected that illegal aliens were producing documents for other illegal aliens,” said Sgt. Gary Edwards of the Wetumpka PD. “Then on August 16, law enforcement officers with the Wetumpka Police Department, Central Alabama Drug Task Force and Alabama Beverage Control Board conducted an undercover operation to purchase documents from illegal aliens.
“We conducted a controlled buy, purchasing four documents for $300,” he said.
The buy gave officers enough evidence to arrest Hernandez Marlon, 30, and Balderas Rafael, 23, both with Union Springs’ addresses. The men were charged with criminal possession of a forged instrument and trafficking in stolen identities.
“They were producing social security cards, resident alien cards and permanent resident cards,” Edwards said. “The social security numbers actually belonged to real citizens in California.”
Posted by tyne at August 28, 2007