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U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Defendant Originally Charged as "John Doe" Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft (USAO D-MA 07/10/2024) (2024-07-12)

Summary

Press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, dated July 10, 2024, announcing that Jose Then, originally charged under the pseudonym "John Doe," was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to three years in prison and ordered to pay $6,228 in restitution. It states that Then pleaded guilty in April 2024 to mail fraud, false statement in an application for a passport, misuse of a Social Security number and aggravated identity theft. According to the release, Then used a victim's stolen personal identifying information for decades and used it to acquire a U.S. passport, a Massachusetts driver's license and thousands of dollars in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits. The release says Then will be subject to deportation proceedings after the sentence.

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Cite this document

“U.S. Department of Labor OIG, Defendant Originally Charged as ‘John Doe’ Sentenced to Three Years in Prison for Fraud and Identity Theft (USAO D-MA 07/10/2024) (2024-07-12).” Original at www.oig.dol.gov. Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/u-s-department-of-labor-oig-defendant-originally-charged-as-john-doe-s-1a1f3d1455/, SHA-256 3456c3b38b34a1c208870c2a630b4cf55562846da9515136fa6817439082a5b8.

Full text

PRESS RELEASE



Defendant Originally Charged as
"John Doe" Sentenced to Three
Years in Prison for Fraud and
Identity Theft
Wednesday, July 10, 2024

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

BOSTON – Jose Then, originally charged under the pseudonym “John Doe,” was
sentenced today in federal court in Boston for mail fraud, false statement in an
application for a passport, misuse of a social security number and aggravated identity
theft.

Jose Then, 52, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to three years in
prison and ordered to pay $6,228 in restitution. Upon completion of his sentence, Then
will be subject to deportation proceedings. In April 2024, Then pleaded guilty mail fraud,
false statement in an application for a passport, misuse of a Social Security number and
aggravated identity theft.

Then has been using the victim’s name, date of birth, and Social Security for decades.
Then used the victim’s stolen personal identifying information to acquire a U.S. passport,
a Massachusetts driver’s license, and thousands of dollars in Pandemic Unemployment
Assistance benefits. Then was also found in possession of a driver’s license with his
image but the personal identifying information of another individual, as well as a Social
Security number and birth certificate in the name of the third party.

Acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy and Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in
Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England made the announcement
today. Valuable assistance was provided by Homeland Security Investigations in Santo
Domingo, Dominican Republic; Puerto Rico Department of Public Safety; U.S.
Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General; U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic
Security Service; U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office of Inspector
General; U.S. Postal Inspection Service; Massachusetts State Police Fraud Identification
Unit; and the Weymouth and Quincy Police Departments. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian
Sullivan of the Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.

The investigation was conducted by Homeland Security Investigation’s Document and
Benefit Fraud Task Force (DBFTF), a specialized investigative group comprising
personnel from various state, local, and federal agencies with expertise in detecting,
deterring, and disrupting organizations and individuals involved in various types of
document, identity, and benefit fraud schemes.

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 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 and https://www.justice.gov/coronavirus/comb
atingfraud.

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 via the NCDF Web Complaint Form.

Updated July 10, 2024

Topics
CORONAVIRUS

FINANCIAL FRAUD

IDENTITY THEFT


Component
USAO - Massachusetts


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File
2024-07-12-Defendant-Originally-Charged-as-John-Doe-Sentenced-to-Three-Years-in-Prison-for-Fraud-and-Identity.pdf
Size
87,124 bytes
SHA-256
3456c3b38b34a1c208870c2a630b4cf55562846da9515136fa6817439082a5b8
Our copy
2024-07-12-Defendant-Originally-Charged-as-John-Doe-Sentenced-to-Three-Years-in-Prison-for-Fraud-and-Identity.pdf
Original
www.oig.dol.gov
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