Dominican Man Sentenced for Misrepresentation of Social Security Number

          CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE – United States Attorney Emily Gray Rice announced  today that Richard Arias-Aquasvivas, of the Dominican Republic, was sentenced to time served since his arrest on July 15, 2015, after pleading guilty to misrepresentation of a social security number.

          Arias-Aquasvivas was apprehended at the New Hampshire Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) in Nashua, New Hampshire, where he was attempting to obtain a New Hampshire driver’s license using false identity information, including a social security number not assigned to him. Officers of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations (ICE-ERO) responded to a request by the New Hampshire State Police to assist in determining the defendant’s true identity. When confronted by the agents, Arias-Aquasvivas insisted his last name was Medina Torres and that he was born in Puerto Rico.  An attempt to identify Arias-Aquasvivas through mobile fingerprint identification failed because Arias-Aquasvivas’ fingertips had been mutilated. 

          ICE-ERO agents interview the person who had driven Arias-Aquasvivas to the DMV office and that person identified the defendant as Richard Aquasvivas.  ICE-ERO agents ran a records check on that name and obtained a photograph of Richard Aquasvivas that matched the photograph of the defendant.  ICE-ERO records identified the defendant’s as a national of the Dominican Republic who was illegally in the United States.  When the defendant was confronted with this information, he admitted his true identity.

          Arias-Aquasvivas pled guilty to the charge on September 29, 2015.

          The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Removal Operations, and by the New Hampshire State Police.  This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfred Rubega.