ICE lawyer sentenced for identity theft, fraud
Ex-chief counsel stole identities from undocumented and used them to open credit cards, bank accounts
A former chief counsel for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Seattle was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison for stealing the identities of undocumented immigrants facing deportation and using them to open credit cards and bank accounts under his control, running up $190,000 in bills.
Raphael Sanchez oversaw immigration proceedings in Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington since 2011 as the agency’s top lawyer in the region. He resigned when he was charged in the fouryear scheme in February, according to the Department of Justice.
“Raphael Sanchez was entrusted with overseeing the honest enforcement of our country’s immigration laws,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Cronan. “Instead, Sanchez abused that trust, and capitalized on his position at ICE to exploit his victims and line his own pockets.”
As part of a deal in which Sanchez pleaded guilty to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, prosecutors and Sanchez’s attorney, Cassandra Stamm, agreed to recommend the four-year prison term.
Stamm blamed the crimes on her client’s self- destructive tendencies, including dangerously abusing sleeping pills, which she suggested stemmed from being brought up by an alcoholic, violent father.
In an interview with court officials prior to his sentencing, the 44-year-old Sanchez, whowas due to make $162,000 this year, said he struggled with money troubles, depression, fatigue and a failed relationship before launching into
his scheme.
“It became a perfect storm that did not allow me to see the hurtfulness and wrongfulness ofmy actions,” he said. “I pretended I needed no one and thought material thingswould bring me happiness, even if temporarily. I created an intri- cate, beautiful, yet soul-less house of cards that suddenly came crashing down.”
Sanchez admitted that he came upwith a scheme to defraud undocumented immigrants placed in ICE removal proceedings by using their personal information to open credit lines and personal loans under their names; manipulating their credit bureau files; transferring funds to himself and purchasing items using credit cards is- sued under their names, according to the DOJ.
Sanchez told law enforcement officials he accessed immigrants’ personal information from official ICE computer databases and from hard- copy immigration files. He used his work computer to forge identification documents under victims’ names, including Social Security cards and Washington State driver’s licenses. Sanchez used the documents to open credit cards and bank accounts under their names, which he controlled, according to the Justice Department.
He also listed his residence as the victims’ home addresses on account paperwork and, in some cases, created public utility account statements in their names to provide proof of residence to open lines of credit or to cover his tracks, officials said.
Sanchez charged credit or withdrew payments totaling more than $190,000 in the names of the undocumented immigrants to himself, often using PayPal and mobile point-of-sale devices from Amazon, Square, Venmo and Coin to process the fraudulent transactions.
In several cases, Sanchez bought items online in the names of victims and had them shipped to his house. He also used credit-mon-- itoring services and corresponded with credit bureaus in the names of immigrants to conceal his fraud. He claimed three undocumented immigrants as relative dependents on his tax returns for 2014, 2015 and 2016, the Justice Department said.