KANSAS CITY, Mo. – David M. Ketchmark, Acting United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced a Mexican national was sentenced in federal court today for possessing and manufacturing thousands of fraudulent immigration documents.

Abraham Ceron-Lopez, 38, a citizen of Mexico residing in Kansas City, Mo., was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple to 45 months in federal prison without parole. Today’s sentence is an upward departure from the recommended federal sentencing guidelines range of 24 to 36 months.

Ceron-Lopez, who pleaded guilty on March 7, 2012, was contacted by law enforcement officers at a grocery store parking lot on Oct. 6, 2011. Federal agents had received information from a confidential informant that an individual who produces counterfeit documents would be at that location. During a search of Ceron-Lopez’s vehicle, numerous immigration documents were located, along with a card printer. According to court documents, these immigration documents appeared to be fraudulent because of their poor quality.

Ceron-Lopez accompanied agents to his residence, where they found a computer in the basement along with nearly 6,000 actual and computerized documents such as United States and Mexican identification cards, Social Security cards, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service resident alien cards (Form I-551), and state identification cards. Some of those identification cards were complete but many others were in various stages of construction.

This case is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Gregg Coonrod. It was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Department of Homeland Security.

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