U.S. Department of Labor OIG, "John Doe" Pleads Guilty and Discloses Identity (USAO D-MA 04/16/2024) (2024-04-18)

Summary

A press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts, dated Tuesday, April 16, 2024, announcing that a defendant charged under the pseudonym "John Doe" pleaded guilty and admitted that the defendant's true name is Jose Then. Jose Then, age unknown, pleaded guilty to mail fraud, false statement in an application for a passport, misuse of a social security number and aggravated identity theft. Then was indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023, and U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 10, 2024. The release states that Then used a victim's stolen personal identifying information for decades to acquire a U.S. passport and a Massachusetts driver's license and to receive thousands of dollars in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) benefits.

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Full text

PRESS RELEASE



"John Doe" Pleads Guilty and
Discloses Identity
Tuesday, April 16, 2024


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


Defendant used stolen identity for decades; received PUA
benefits, U.S. passport and Massachusetts driver’s license
BOSTON – A defendant charged under the pseudonym “John Doe” pleaded guilty last
week to fraud charges. In addition to pleading guilty, the defendant admitted that his
true name is Jose Then.

Jose Then, age unknown, pleaded guilty to mail fraud; false statement in an application
for a passport; misuse of a social security number; and aggravated identity theft. U.S.
District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns scheduled sentencing for July 10, 2024. Then was
indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023.

Then acquired the name and identity of an individual and 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 receive thousands of dollars in Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA)
benefits. The victim has suffered garnishment of his wages for child support costs that
Then has failed to pay under the stolen identity.

The charge of misuse of a social security number provides for a sentence of up to five
years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The
charge of false statement in a passport application provides for a sentence of up to 10
years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The
charge of mail fraud provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years
supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of aggravated identity theft
calls for a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison to be added to the
felony committed while using the means of identification of another without lawful
authority. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S.
Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a
criminal case.

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 is prosecuting 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 April 16, 2024

Topics
FINANCIAL FRAUD
IDENTITY THEFT


Component
USAO - Massachusetts


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