Dominican National Sentenced for Identity Theft

BOSTON – A Dominican national was sentenced today in federal court in Boston for stealing the identity of a U.S. citizen from Puerto Rico.

Wilkin Pena Soto, 31, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to two years and one day in prison and three years of supervised release. Pena Soto will also be subject to deportation proceedings. In March 2018, Pena Soto pleaded guilty to one count of passport fraud and one count of aggravated identity theft.

In August 2017, Pena Soto applied for a passport at an Attleboro Post Office purporting to be a U.S. citizen. On the application, he represented that the name, Social Security number, and date of birth of a Puerto Rican man were his. He supported the application with a birth certificate and Massachusetts driver’s license in the U.S. citizen’s name. Pena Soto also committed aggravated identity theft in connection with the passport application.

United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; William B. Gannon, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, Boston Field Office; and Peter C. Fitzhugh, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston, made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Christine Wichers of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.