US: Lawyer who used deported immigrants’ identities to run up credit card debts jailed
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A lawyer for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been given a four-year jail term for stealing the identities of immigrants who were facing deportation and using them to acquire credit cards and run up debts of more $190,300.
Raphael Sanchez, 44, who was formerly the head of the ICE office in Seattle, also used the identities of several deported immigrants as dependants to avoid tax.
Mr Sanchez said he was driven to to commit the fraud because of self-loathing, depression and loneliness.
“I pretended I needed no one and thought material things would bring me happiness, even if temporarily,” he said in a letter to the court.
“I created an intricate, beautiful, yet soulless house of cards that suddenly came crashing down.”
The lawyer pleaded guilty to wire fraud as well as aggravated identity theft in February as part of a plea deal before Thursday’s sentencing.
Prosecutor Jessica Harvey said in court papers: “Sanchez carried the heavy responsibility of speaking for the American government itself, giving voice to the principles of our immigration system and advocating for its fair administration.
“Sanchez abandoned the principles he swore to uphold and used his authority merely as a vehicle for personal profit.”
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