What’s worse than standing in line at the DMV? Getting arrested at one. A Dominican national has been sentenced for using the identity of a U.S. citizen at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles. (I’m sure that will qualify as his most memorable trip to the DMV. I wonder how long he had to wait before he was arrested.)
Hector Antonio Cruz Ciprian, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of aggravated identity theft. (Maybe if Ciprian had practiced his impersonation more he could have avoided suspicion.)
On June 14, 2016, Cruz Ciprian used the identification of a U.S. citizen to apply for an out-of-state driver’s license conversion at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Haverhill. In the application, Cruz Ciprian provided, among other things, a Social Security card, birth certificate and utility bill in the victim’s name. (There’s one crucial detail Ciprian forgot – his name needed to match the one on the stolen documents submitted. Such a minor detail that had huge repercussions.)
Ciprian was sentenced to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release for committing identity theft fraud. He will also be subject to deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence. (What the heck was this guy thinking when he cooked up this scheme? It’s pretty clear that he was not thinking at all.)
Today’s Fraud of the Day comes from a Department of Justice press release, “Dominican National Sentenced for Identity Theft Charges,” published on November 18, 2021
A Dominican national was sentenced yesterday in federal court in Boston in connection with using the identity of a U.S. citizen at the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Hector Antonio Cruz Ciprian, 33, a Dominican national previously residing in Lowell, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Chief Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV to 30 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Cruz Ciprian will be subject to deportation proceedings upon completion of his sentence. On June 21, 2021, Cruz Ciprian pleaded guilty to one count of false representation of a Social Security number and one count of aggravated identity theft.
