Previously Deported Mexican National Sentenced To 27 Months’ Imprisonment

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania dated June 6, 2023. It announces that on June 2, 2023, United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani sentenced Pedro Hernandez-Romero, a citizen of Mexico, to 27 months' imprisonment and a one-year term of supervised release for aggravated identity theft, social security account number fraud and illegal reentry of a previously removed alien. According to the release, on July 9, 2020, Hernandez-Romero used the identity of a U.S. citizen to apply for and receive $25,176 in Pennsylvania Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits, and received $1,950 in traditional unemployment benefits under the same identity. Hernandez-Romero was ordered to pay $27,134.00 in restitution to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

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“Previously Deported Mexican National Sentenced To 27 Months’ Imprisonment.” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2023-06-14-previously-deported-mexican-national-sentenced-to-27-months-2a5075a499/, SHA-256 8a7579164ced58c51f7fc3a4a25d794697e429bb82b36efbba549f56c1cdaf97.

Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Previously Deported Mexican
National Sentenced To 27 Months’
Imprisonment For Covid-19 Related
Fraud And Identity Theft Offenses
Tuesday, June 6, 2023

For Immediate Release
U.S. Attorney's Office, Middle District of Pennsylvania

SCRANTON- The United States Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Pennsylvania
announced that on June 2, 2023, Pedro Hernandez-Romero, age 30, a citizen of Mexico,
was sentenced to 27 months’ imprisonment and a one-year term of supervised release,
by United States District Court Judge Robert D. Mariani, for the crimes of aggravated
identity theft, social security account number fraud and illegal reentry of a previously
removed alien.

According to United States Attorney Gerard M. Karam, on July 9, 2020, Hernandez-
Romero, a previously deported alien, using the name, date of birth, and social security
number of a U.S. citizen, applied for and ultimately received $25,176 in Pennsylvania
Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits to which he was not
entitled. Further investigation revealed that, using the same stolen identity, Hernandez-
Romero applied for and received $1,950 in traditional unemployment benefits. At his
sentencing, Hernandez-Romero was also ordered to pay $27,134.00 in restitution to the
Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry.

This matter was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Internal
Revenue Service Criminal Investigations (IRS-CI) and by the United States Department of
Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Investigations. Assistant United States
Attorney Jeffery St John prosecuted the case.

On May 17, 2021, the Attorney General established the COVID-19 Fraud Enforcement
Task Force to marshal the resources of the Department of Justice in partnership with
agencies across government to enhance efforts to combat and prevent pandemic-
related fraud. The Task Force bolsters efforts to investigate and prosecute the most
culpable domestic and international criminal actors and assists agencies tasked with
administering relief programs to prevent fraud by, among other methods, augmenting
and incorporating existing coordination mechanisms, identifying resources and
techniques to uncover fraudulent actors and their schemes, and sharing and harnessing
information and insights gained from prior enforcement efforts. For more information
on the Department’s response to the pandemic, please
visit https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus.

Anyone with information about allegations of attempted fraud involving COVID-19 can
report it by calling the Department of Justice’s National Center for Disaster Fraud
(NCDF) Hotline at 866-720-5721 or via the NCDF Web Complaint Form
at: https://www.justice.gov/disaster-fraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form.

                                        ###

Updated June 6, 2023

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

IDENTITY THEFT


Component
USAO - Pennsylvania, Middle

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