United States Attorney's Office District of Connecticut
Press Release

SUFFIELD WOMAN PLEADS GUILTY TO FEDERAL PASSPORT FRAUD AND TAX CHARGES

Kevin J. O'Connor, United States Attorney for the District of Connecticut, announced that DEBORAH FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA, age 42, of 233 North Stone Street, West Suffield, Connecticut, waived indictment and pleaded guilty today to charges that she fraudulently obtained a United States Passport under a fictitious name and that she signed and filed tax returns under the same fictitious name. United States District Judge Stefan R. Underhill accepted FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA's plea of guilty this afternoon in Bridgeport federal court.

In pleading guilty, FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA admitted in court that in approximately 1992, she had acquired the birth certificate of Wanda Elissett Colon, who had died at a very young age in Puerto Rico. Thereafter, FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA used the birth certificate to obtain a Connecticut Department of Motor Vehicle Identification, a Social Security card and a United States Passport under the assumed name. During today's court proceeding, the prosecutor stated that FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA also married someone using the Wanda Colon identity even though she was married to someone else at the time under her real name. The marriage was arranged so that the second husband, a foreign national, could obtain permanent legal status in the United States. Following the marriage under the false identity, FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA filed joint income tax returns with the purported husband as "Wanda Colon" at the same time she was filing tax returns under her real identity. The prosecutor further stated in court that FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA identified "Wanda Colon" as her child care provider in order to get a child care tax credit on the tax return she filed under her real identity.

When she is sentenced by Judge Underhill on September 3, 2004, FORCELLINA-SAAVEDRA faces a maximum period of incarceration of ten years on the passport charge and three years on the tax charge, and a maximum fine of $350,000.

This case is being investigated by the Internal Revenue Service – Criminal Investigation Division, the State Department, and the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Kari A. Dooley.

CONTACT:

U.S. ATTORNEY'S OFFICE
Tom Carson
(203) 821-3722
thomas.carson@usdoj.gov