United States Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Iowa

05/07/2021 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/07/2021 15:31

Guatemalan Man Who Possessed a Fraudulent Social Security Card and a Fraudulent Permanent Resident Card Sentenced to Prison

A Guatemalan man who possessed false identification documents was sentenced today to two months in federal prison.

Miguel Padilla, age 46, a citizen of Guatemala illegally present in the United States and living in Waterloo, Iowa, received the prison term after a March 3, 2021, guilty plea to one count of unlawful possession of identification documents.

In a plea agreement, Padilla admitted that in August 2019, he possessed a fraudulent social security card and a fraudulent permanent resident card, also known as a 'green card,' in connection with completing paperwork to obtain employment in Waterloo, Iowa. The account numbers on the identification documents were assigned to other people. Social Security and Permanent Resident cards are documents used to prove identity and are prescribed by statute or regulation for entry into or as evidence of authorized stay or employment in the United States.

Padilla was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge C.J. Williams. Padilla was sentenced to 60 days' imprisonment. He must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.

Padilla was released on the bond previously set and is to surrender to the United States Marshal on May 21, 2021.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Enforcement and Removal Operations.

Court file information at https://ecf.iand.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/login.pl.

The case file number is 20-CR-02048.

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