A Chelsea man pleaded guilty on Monday to selling fraudulent Social Security cards and Legal Permanent Resident cards, often referred to as “Green Cards.”
Wilberto Sandoval Mazariego, 40, pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful transfer of a document or authentication feature. U.S. District Court Judge Allison D. Burroughs scheduled sentencing for Oct. 3. In October 2023, Sandoval Mazariego was arrested and charged by criminal complaint. Sandoval Mazariego was later indicted by a federal grand jury in October 2023.
During an investigation into Tomas Xirum for selling fraudulent Green Cards and fraudulent Social Security cards, law enforcement allegedly identified Sandoval Mazariego as the creator of the fraudulent documents Xirum was selling. Following Xirum’s arrest in August 2022, law enforcement found a text message string between Xirum and Sandoval Mazariego that contained approximately 568 attachments, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.
Xirum would regularly text Sandoval Mazariego pictures of unknown persons along with a name, date of birth and country of birth – to which Sandoval Mazariego would later respond with pictures of Social Security cards and/or Green Cards with the person’s photo and information that Xirum provided, according to the government officials.
On Aug. 17, 2023, Sandoval Mazariego sold a fraudulent Green Card and a fraudulent Social Security card to an undercover agent.
On Oct 3, 2023, Sandoval Mazariego was arrested after leaving his Chelsea residence. During a search of his residence, all items necessary to produce counterfeit forms of identification were found, including two laminators, card stock paper, photo paper, glue, trimmers and printers. Also recovered were nine Legal Permanent Resident cards, six Social Security cards and five driver’s licenses. Five of the recovered Social Security cards contained the names provided by the undercover agent to Sandoval Mazariego as part of the investigation. A total of $17,095 in cash was also recovered from the residence.
On Aug. 21, 2023, Xirum pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful transfer of document or authentication feature and three counts of unlawful production of document or authentication feature. In January 2024, Xirum was sentenced to 18 months in prison.