Defendant Originally Charged as "John Doe" Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft

BOSTON – Jose Then, originally charged under the pseudonym “John Doe,” was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for mail fraud, false statement in an application for a passport, misuse of a social security number and aggravated identity theft.  

Jose Then, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to three years in prison and ordered to pay $6,228 in restitution. Upon completion of his sentence, Then will be subject to deportation proceedings. In April 2024, Then pleaded guilty mail fraud, false statement in an application for a passport, misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft.

Then has been using the victim’s name, date of birth, and Social Security for decades. Then used the victim’s stolen personal identifying information to acquire a U.S. passport, a Massachusetts driver’s license, and thousands of dollars in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. Then was also found in possession of a driver’s license with his image but the personal identifying information of another individual, as well as a Social Security number and birth certificate in the name of the third party.  

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement today. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety; U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Massachusetts State Police Fraud Identification Unit; and the Weymouth and Quincy Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian Sullivan of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.  

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation’s Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF), a specialized investigative group comprising personnel from various state, local, and federal agencies with expertise in detecting, deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals involved in various types of document, identity, and benefit fraud schemes.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with administering relief programs to prevent fraud by augmenting and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information on the department’s response to the pandemic, please visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/combatingfraud. 

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.