Fremont Man Sentenced in Conspiracy to Produce and Transfer Fraudulent Documents

United States Attorney Steven Russell announced that Martin Alonzo Castro, 42, of Fremont, Nebraska, was sentenced today in federal court in Omaha for Conspiracy to Produce and Transfer Fraudulent Documents. Chief United States District Judge Robert F. Rossiter, Jr. sentenced Castro to time served. Castro has been in custody since his arrest on April 14, 2021. There is no parole in the federal system. He was also ordered to serve a 3-year term of supervised release. Castro will be deported by U.S. immigration authorities.

In the spring of 2020, law enforcement officers investigating an identity theft matter involving the use of a deceased person’s Social Security number learned that fraudulent identity documents could be obtained from co-defendant Tomas De La Cruz-Perez.

Over the course of the year, investigators made several purchases of fraudulent documents (Social Security cards, state Driver’s Licenses, and Lawful Permanent Resident cards (I-551s) from De La Cruz-Perez, who was receiving dozens of packages originating in California through the U.S. Mail. Investigators determined that co-defendant Luis Alberto Castro-Santos, of Pomona, California, was the source of the fraudulent documents mailed to De La Cruz-Perez for sale to customers in Nebraska. Investigators determined that Castro and co-defendant Estuardo Ruiz-Orozco, of Wakefield, Nebraska, were also selling fraudulent documents obtained from Castro-Santos in California. Ruiz-Orozco was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 24 months on May 12, 2022. Castro-Santos and De La Cruz-Perez were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of 24 months and 15 months, respectively, on October 21, 2022.

Investigators planned and executed coordinated arrests of the defendants on April 14, 2021. Investigators obtained warrants to search the Nebraska defendants’ residences and cars, yielding hundreds of counterfeit federal and state identity cards.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service, the Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General, and the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.