Boston, MA... A Springfield man was sentenced late yesterday in federal court in connection with his earlier trial conviction on charges of identity theft, passport fraud, and social security fraud.

United States Attorney Michael J. Sullivan; Kenneth W. Kaiser, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in New England; James Ennis, Special Agent in Charge of the Diplomatic Security Service for New England; and Leo J. Sullivan, Special Agent in Charge of Investigations of the U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General in New England, announced that JOSE JIMENEZ, age 31, of 89 Longhill Street, Springfield, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Richard G. Stearns to five years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. On February 16, 2006, JIMENEZ was convicted by a trial jury sitting before Judge Stearns of two counts of aggravated identity theft, one count of passport fraud, and six counts of Social Security fraud.

Evidence presented during the three-day trial demonstrated that JIMENEZ engaged in a complicated scheme to assume the identity of one deceased person and was in the process of creating a new identity for himself using the name and social security number of another deceased person, when he was arrested in January 2005. Both of these deceased persons died as children however the Social Security Administration was never informed of their deaths so the Social Security numbers remained valid. Using the names, dates of birth, and Social Security numbers of these deceased persons, JIMENEZ applied for, and fraudulently obtained, a U.S. passport, Massachusetts’ Driver’s License, bank accounts at Citizens Bank and TD Banknorth, and telephone service from Verizon.

The government presented evidence during trial that revealed that during the course of a search conducted at JIMENEZ’s apartment, a false Massachusetts driver’s license and vehicle registration, fraudulently obtained identification documents, handwritten lists containing the names, dates of birth, and social security numbers of 26 persons, and high school transcripts of 37 additional people were found. In a subsequent search of a storage unit maintained by JIMENEZ, a similar handwritten list containing the names of 12 other persons and their dates of birth and Social Security numbers were also found.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Joint Terrorism Task Force, Diplomatic Security Service, U.S. Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General, Springfield Police Department, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and Massachusetts State Police. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys B. Stephanie Siegmann and Jeffrey Auerhahn of Sullivan’s Anti-Terrorism and National Security Unit.

Press Contact: Samantha Martin, (617) 748-3139