A Brazilian man residing in Arlington, Massachusetts, was sentenced Thursday, February 9, in federal court for transferring and aiding and abetting the transfer of fake United States identification documents, and possessing document-making implements.
United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Matthew J. Etre, Acting Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in New England; and Leo J. Sullivan, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, announced today that Ozélio Pereira De Assis, age 26, of 248 Massachusetts Avenue, Arlington, Massachusetts, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton to 27 months’ imprisonment and 24 months’ of supervised release following his incarceration.
Upon completion of his prison sentence, De Assis faces deportation to his native Brazil.
De Assis pleaded guilty on October 27, 2005 to two counts of transferring false identification documents and to one count of possessing document-making implements.
At the earlier plea hearing, the prosecutor told the Court that, had the case proceeded to trial, the evidence would have proven that from October of 2004 and May of 2005, De Assis unlawfully transferred counterfeit Alien Registration Cards commonly known as "green cards" and counterfeit Social Security Account Number Cards.
On May 25, 2005, Special Agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement ("ICE") arrested De Assis at the Peabody District Court on administrative immigration charges. De Assis was transported back to the ICE office where he was given his Miranda rights and Consular rights in the Portuguese language.
During the subsequent interview, De Assis admitted to being involved in the sale of counterfeit green cards, counterfeit Social Security cards and counterfeit foreign driver’s licenses to illegal aliens.
According to De Assis, he had been involved in selling the aforementioned documents since October 2004, and had sold between two to three documents per day from October 2004 to the present.
De Assis stated that customers who requested the documents would call him on the cellular phone and place an order. De Assis would then meet with the customers on the street and take their orders, often obtaining a photograph and biographical information of the customer, which would then be used on the documents.
De Assis claimed to charge customers approximately US$ 60 per document. After he took the orders, De Assis would then meet with another Brazilian, who would manufacture the documents.
According to De Assis, this male would charge De Assis $40 per document for manufacturing them. Based on his own statements, De Assis was involved in the distribution of over 212 documents between October 2004 and April 2005.
De Assis also admitted to the ICE Special Agents that he manufactured identification documents on occasion. Additionally, on May 25, 2005, De Assis provided written consent to search his red Dodge Intrepid that he was driving at the time of his arrest.
Seized from the vehicle were laminating pouches, two sheets of passport style photos of two persons, a ream of gray paper stock similar to that used on both the International Driver’s License Books and Brazilian Driving History Records, three notebooks, one of which has names and biographical information of numerous persons and a Brazilian Driver’s History Record of an unknown person.
All of these items were seized by ICE agents. Additionally, Peabody Police seized three cameras from the vehicle on May 24, 2005, two Polaroid style cameras and one 35mm camera.
The case was investigated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General. It was being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Antoinette E.M. Leoney in Sullivan’s Major Crimes Unit.
Source: U.S. Attorney
