CALIFORNIA MAN GUILTY OF IDENTITY THEFT CRIMES

CONCORD, NEW HAMPSHIRE: United States Attorney Tom Colantuono, announce that Leo Wesley Laporte, age 60, of Orange, California, was sentenced to three years of probation and three months in a Community Corrections Center in California after pleading guilty in U.S. District Court to a two-count indictment for mail and wire fraud.

Laporte was indicted by a federal grand jury in June of 2006 after agents of the FBI uncovered the fraud. The indictment charged that during early 2006, while using the U.S. Mail and interstate wires, Laporte pretended to be both his brother and his cousin in a fraudulent attempt to get a certified copy of his cousin’s birth certificate. Laporte pleaded guilty to the charge on February 1, 200.

U.S. Attorney Colantuono commended the Federal Bureau of Investigation, stating: “The vigilance of the FBI, which handled the investigation is a fine example of federal law enforcement work and professionalism at its best. This should serve as a warning to anyone contemplating identity fraud that they will be detected, apprehended, and prosecuted.”

This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Alfred Rubega

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