2 Phoenix men accused of creating fake IDs for undocumented migrants

PHOENIX — Two men accused of creating fake IDs have been indicted, authorities said on Thursday.

A federal grand jury in Phoenix indicted the two undocumented noncitizens, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

The suspects, 46-year-old Jonathan De La Riva-Lorenzo and 48-year-old Fernando Minkes-Rodriguez, resided in Phoenix, prosecutors said.

They allegedly produced false identification documents made to look like legitimate U.S. papers. Their customer base consisted of people who were in the U.S. illegally, prosecutors said.

The two men asked customers to provide some information about themselves along with headshots to make their fake documents look legitimate, prosecutors said.

How did authorities find the men accused of creating fake IDs?

After getting federal search warrants, special agents with Homeland Security Investigations searched several Arizona locations associated with the two suspects on May 14.

They seized “a multitude of fraudulently made documents,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Arizona.

They also allegedly found supplies the two suspects used to make the fraudulent documents, such as:

• Industrial printers
• Laminate
• Ink cartridges

Both Riva-Lorenzo and Minkes-Rodriguez were charged with one count of conspiracy to commit fraud in connection with creating fake IDs and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

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