WASHINGTON (CMC) – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says a leader of a Puerto Rican identity trafficking organization has been sentenced to serve 81 months in prison.

Enrique Rogelio Mendez-Solis, 40, also known as Rogelio Quero-Mendez and Roberto Marquez-Prada, formerly of Seymour, Indiana, was sentenced by US District Judge Juan M. Pérez-Giménez in the District of Puerto Rico.

The sentencing was for his leading role in trafficking the identities and corresponding identity documents of Puerto Rican US citizens.

Judge Pérez-Giménez also ordered the defendant to serve three years of supervised release and to forfeit US$422,793 in illegal proceeds.

The DOJ said Mendez-Solis illegally entered the United States from Mexico, adding that “the government will seek his deportation following the service of his prison sentence.”

On December 3, 2013, Mendez-Solis pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit identification fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit human smuggling for financial gain and three counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to court documents, individuals located in the Savarona area of Caguas, Puerto Rico, obtained Puerto Rican identities and corresponding identity documents.

Other conspirators located in various cities throughout the United States solicited customers and sold Social Security cards and corresponding Puerto Rico birth certificates for prices ranging from US$700 to US$2,500 per set.

The identity brokers in the United States ordered the identity documents from the document suppliers in Savarona on behalf of their customers by making coded telephone calls.

The conspirators were charged with using text messages, money transfer services and express priority or regular US mail to complete their illicit transactions.

Court documents allege that some of the conspirators assumed a Puerto Rican identity themselves and used that identity in connection with the trafficking operation.

To date, 53 individuals have been charged for their roles in the identity trafficking scheme.

All 49 arrested defendants have pleaded guilty and 46 defendants have been sentenced.