DS Arrests Attorney In Passport Fraud CaseU.S. Department of JusticeConcord, NH August 9, 2007 Thomas P. Colantuono United States Attorney District of New Hampshire Diplomatic Security Arrests California Attorney On Indictment For Passport Fraud Robert Citroen of Palm Desert, California was arrested by U.S. Department of State Diplomatic Security Service special agents on August 5, 2007, for alleged passport fraud. Special agents from Diplomatic Security’s Los Angeles, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire offices conducted the investigation against Citroen who is an attorney licensed to practice law in California. The FBI’s Sacramento Field Office also assisted in this investigation. An indictment filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire alleges that Citroen fraudulently obtained multiple U.S. passports and attempted to renew one using the identity of Noah Lee Richardson, a person who died as a child in Ventura County, California in 1948. Citroen appeared before a U.S. Magistrate Judge in Los Angeles, California on August 6, 2007 and was released pending his trial. Citroen will be required to appear in New Hampshire to answer the charges, and the date of the next hearing has not yet been set. If convicted of this offense, Citroen faces a maximum prison term of five years and a maximum fine of $250,000. This case resulted from an ongoing initiative, known as “Operation Checkmate,” to identify false passport applications that are submitted for adjudication to the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The National Passport Center processes and adjudicates approximately five million applications each year. Operation Checkmate is a joint initiative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Hampshire, the U.S. Department of State, Diplomatic Security Service, the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Diplomatic Security is a worldwide law enforcement and security arm of the U.S. Department of State with special agents assigned to U.S. diplomatic missions overseas and field offices throughout the United States. Diplomatic Security special agents conduct passport and visa fraud investigations worldwide and are responsible for security at 285 U.S. diplomatic facilities around the world. An indictment is only an allegation and not proof of criminal conduct. As in all cases, each defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Contact: Alfred Rubega |
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