Guatemalan Man Sentenced to 16 Months for Fraud

Contact: Halsey B. Frank
Assistant United States Attorney
Tel: (207) 780-3257

Portland, Maine: United States Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II announced that Sergio
Suhum, also known as Sergio Suhum-Nacho, 26, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in
the United States, who most recently resided in Brunswick, Maine, was sentenced in U.S.
District Court by Judge D. Brock Hornby to 16 months in prison for social security fraud,
immigration document fraud, false personation of an American citizen, and theft of government
benefits. He was also ordered to pay $1,354 in restitution. He pled guilty in February 2014.

According to court records, from at least March 2008, the defendant lived and worked in
Maine using the identity of an actual United States citizen who resided in Texas. The defendant
bought a fraudulent Texas birth certificate and Social Security card in the victim’s name. He
used the victim’s identity to obtain a Maine identification card and to apply for a Maine driver’s
license; to obtain employment at DeCoster Egg Farm, Moark Farms, and Days Inn; to apply for
Mainecare and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits; and to obtain about
$1,500 in SNAP benefits before his crimes were discovered.

At sentencing, the victim said that the defendant’s use of his identity caused him
numerous problems. He was denied credit cards and had difficulty getting a car loan. Maine
Revenue Services sent him dunning letters for failing to file returns and pay taxes in Maine. The
Texas Department of Public Safety repeatedly threatened to revoke his commercial driver’s
license because of OUI convictions that the defendant accumulated in Maine which also
jeopardized the victim’s job driving vehicles in Texas oil fields. He was detained for hours at the
border after visiting relatives in Mexico because of a warrant issued on the basis of the
defendant’s activities in Maine. In imposing sentence, Judge Hornby noted that the problems that
the defendant caused the victim were people’s worst nightmare and caused a great deal of
anxiety and stress.

The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland
Security Investigations; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the
Inspector General; the Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General; and the
Maine Department of Health and Human Services.