Press Release
DEFENDANTS CONVICTED OF CONSPIRING TO PRODUCE DRIVER’S LICENSES FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
March 13, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
R. Alexander Acosta, United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Rick Walker, Special Agent in Charge, Department of Labor (DOL) Office of Inspector General, Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations, and Colonel John Czernis, Interim Director, Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), announced that defendants Wesley Philamar and Carmino Santo Rossini Jr., each pled guilty today to conspiracy to produce identification documents without lawful authority, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(ii), (c)(3)(A), and (f). At sentencing, which is set for May 22, 2009 at 2:00 p.m. in front of the Honorable Kenneth A. Marra in West Palm Beach, each defendant faces up to fifteen years’ imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and up to five years of supervised release.
According to information presented in Court, the defendants utilized the names of bogus companies in order to apply for approximately fifteen hundred employment visas for illegal aliens who were not entitled to receive them. In the conspiracy, the defendants directed hundreds of illegal aliens to take the receipts generated by applying for these employment visas, along with fraudulent employment verification letters supplied by the defendants and counterfeit U.S. Department of Labor certifications, to driver’s licenses offices in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties in order to receive a valid Florida driver’s license.
Another scheme utilized by the defendants to provide illegal aliens with valid Florida driver’s licenses, was that the defendants provided the illegal aliens with counterfeit I-94 U.S. Customs & Border Protection Arrival/Departure forms. The defendants then directed the aliens to take these I-94 forms to the driver’s license office in order to obtain a valid Florida license.
For each driver’s license obtained by an illegal alien, the defendants typically received a fee of between $500 to $1500. In the conspiracy, the defendants provided at least five hundred Florida Driver’s Licenses to illegal aliens who were not entitled to receive them.
“Today’s guilty pleas send a clear message to those individuals seeking to defraud the Foreign Labor Certification program by submitting fraudulent documentation,” said Daniel R. Petrole, Deputy Inspector General, U.S. Department of Labor. “My office will continue to work with other Federal, state and local agencies in investigating those individuals who defraud Department of Labor programs.”
“By their actions the defendants may have obtained a monetary benefits,” said United States Attorney R. Alexander Acosta. “However, by holding these individuals accountable to the justice system we are also able to protect the security of the United States, which is where more serious damage may have occurred.”
Mr. Acosta thanked the agents of the DOL, ICE, and FHP for their outstanding work. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Randy Katz and Jennifer Keene.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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