U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: Soo Counterfeit Permanent Resident Card Bust: U.S. Border Patrol bust longtime illegal Mexican after informant says about “10 to 15 undocumented immigrants (UDI’s) were working at the Meijer Store currently under construction in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan”

Longtime illegal worker from Mexico busted with fake documents after border patrol probe in Soo – Cost for documents only $300
Possession of a Falsely Made I-551 Alien Resident Card

By Greg Peterson
U.P. Breaking News
Owner, News Director

1-906-273-2433

(Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan) – A longtime illegal Mexican with a criminal assault record has been busted by federal border agents as part of an ongoing probe into illegals with fake papers at job sites in Saul Ste. Marie, MI including an alleged ring providing false documents.

A felony criminal complaint was filed this past week in Marquette, MI against Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia for alleged federal crimes in Chippewa County. Maciel-Garcia was ordered held without bond on Thurs., Dec. 22, 2016 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Timothy P. Greeley in Marquette for “Possession of a Falsely Made I-551 Alien Resident Card.”

The ongoing probe involves the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protections and the U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) – and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). The probe began on Dec. 6, 2016, when Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent Todd Wilton received information from an HSI documented Confidential Informant (CI).

“The CI stated that approximately 10 to 15 undocumented immigrants (UDI’s) were working at the Meijer Store currently under construction in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan,” state the felony criminal complaint against Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia, that was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan – Northern Division. The CI provided information about a vehicle on the job site – a 2002 Black Chevrolet Tahoe – registered to Yesenia Valencia of Memphis, Tennessee, a citizen of Mexico with “no legal right to work, reside or be present in the United States.”

U.S. Border Patrol Agents in the Soo began following the vehicle on Dec. 8, 2016 “from the Meijer Store to a local gas station.” That’s when the occupants of the Tahoe were confront by USBP Special Agent Alexander Carlson and USBP Special Agent Donald Natzke. An occupant of the SUV, Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia “admitted he is a citizen/national of Mexico” and illegally in the U.S. – and was placed under administrative arrest and transported to the Border Patrol Station for processing.”

At the Border Patrol Station, Maciel-Garcia was searched by USBP Special Agent Craig Benton. Maciel-Garcia was allegedly “found in possession of multiple forms of identification” bearing the name Saul Reyes Andrade – including a “Permanent Resident Card (I-551) card.”

Border patrol agent Benton “asked Maciel-Garcia if he was from El Salvador” as the permanent resident card “had fraudulently displayed.” However, Maciel-Garcia admitted “he was from Mexico and had the I-551 to apply for work.”

The complaint states Maciel-Garcia admitted he used false names when”encountered by law enforcement” Including: Luciano Garcia-Ortega, Saul Reyes-Andrade and Jesus Herrera-Maciel. After fessing up and with help from a family member, Maciel-Garcia was “later able to produce a

Mexican birth certificate bearing the name Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia.”

Holy Batcave Batman: Mammoth find

The suspect’s fingerprints revealed that he (Maciel-Garcia) was convicted of assault on August 15, 2003 in Mammoth, Arizona. Apprised of (and understanding) his Miranda rights, Maciel-Garcia started a tale of illegally living and trying to survive in the U.S. for two decades.

The U.S. Border Patrol Agents:

U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI):

USBP HSI Special Agent Jason Michael Fullerton

USBP HSI Special Agent Todd Wilton

USBP Special Agent Alexander Carlson

USBP Special Agent Donald Natzke

USBP Special Agent Craig Benton

 

The USBP criminal complaint provided the following summary of the statement made by Maciel-Garcia:

Maciel-Garcia said he was born in Mexico and lived in the United States for 20 years. He said he illegally entered the United States near Naco, Arizona. He said he purchased the fraudulent Permanent Resident Card (I-551) card for $300 (USD) and knew the I-551 card was fraudulent.

On December 9, 2016, TFO Fullerton contacted Roxanne Foley, Kirkwood Community College, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, regarding a Construction Contract Services identification card that was found in Maciel-Garcia’s possession.

The Construction identification card was issued under the name of Saul Reyes Andrade and contained a picture of Maciel-Garcia, as did the fraudulent I-551 card found in Maciel’s possession. Foley stated that Maciel-Garcia attended a certification course at the aforementioned college. Foley stated that Maciel-Garcia had utilized a Texas identification card bearing the name Saul Reyes Andrade as part of obtaining the certification course.

On December 13, 2016, Homeland Security Investigations SA Alpers and your affiant interviewed an employee at the Check-n-Go, located at 4240 Interstate 75 Business Spur, Unit 26, Sault Ste. Marie, MI, 49783. During Maciel-Garcia’s post-Miranda interview, he claimed to have cashed his paychecks received from “The Bridge” (the name of the company from which he received his paychecks) at the aforementioned check cashing business.

The Check-n-Go employee confirmed that persons wishing to cash paychecks are required to show a form of photo identification. Further, the Check-n-Go employee confirmed that Maciel-Garcia had cashed several checks at that location using the fraudulent I-551 bearing the name Saul Reyes Andrade as identification.

USBP Probe Conclusion:
Based upon the aforementioned facts, Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia is illegally present in the United States and knowingly purchased and possessed a counterfeit Permanent Resident Card (I-551) in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1546(a)

The Players in the Probe:

United States Border Patrol (USBP)

Homeland Security Investigations (HSI)

Task Force Officer (TFO)

Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan

 

HSI documented Confidential Informant (CI)

 

Criminal Complaint:
Jose Luis Maciel-Garcia an undocumented immigrant from Mexico

 

Documents including resident card allegedly faked for $300 – and/or documents mentioned during probe:

Permanent Resident Card (I-551) card

Construction Contract Services identification card

 

The “Bridge” company in question:

Maciel-Garcia cashed his paychecks received from “The Bridge”
Name of the company on his paychecks that he cashed at a check cashing business – The Check-n-Go

Job site mentioned:

The Meijer Store under construction in Sault Ste. Marie, MI

——-

Sources contacted by the feds during probe:

Roxanne Foley, Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about a Construction Contract Services identification card

Employee at the Check-n-Go at 4240 Interstate 75 Business Spur, Unit 26 in Sault Ste. Marie, MI

——-

Vehicle:

2002 Black Chevrolet Tahoe

Registered to Yesenia Valencia of Memphis, Tennessee.
Valencia is a citizen/national of Mexico with no legal right to work, reside or be present in the United States.

——-

Probe turn up other fake names/countries:

Saul Reyes Andrade of El Salvador

Luciano Garcia-Ortega

Saul Reyes-Andrade

Jesus Herrera-Maciel

——-

Related links and info:

https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-media-release/sault-ste-marie-mi-port-entry-construction-project

https://www.cbp.gov

United States Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Border Protections

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

Canada Border Services Agency

https://www.cbp.gov/contact/ports/sault-sainte-marie

https://www.cbp.gov

https://www.sault-canada.com/en/qualityoflife/bordercrossing.asp

http://www.borderpatroledu.org/michigan/sault-sainte-marie

U.P. Breaking News Exclusive: USFS employees across Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin were victims of a rogue employee charged with six felonies including aggravated identity theft; Michael Hanan released but suspected of tampering with ankle monitor

Dozens of current and retired USFS employees in the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin have been ripped off in an identity theft scam that federal prosecutors was committed by a rogue longtime labor relations employee at Forest Service Milwaukee regional office

By Greg Peterson

News Director, Owner

Upper Peninsula Breaking News

(Marquette, MI) – U.S. Forest Service personnel across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin are being warned by federal officials this morning to keep their eyes on credit statements because a rogue company labor relations official who loves to gamble has the personal information of co-workers and was on the run committing bank fraud and identity theft of current, former and retired USFS employees.

A May 24 six-count grand jury indictment charged Michael Kevin Hanan, 34, of W236n6257 Hickory Dr Sussex, WI with one felony count of access device fraud and four felony counts of aggravated identity theft.

A federal complaint accuses Hanan of bank fraud, identity theft and unauthorized computer access to obtain information from a department or agency of the U.S. Government.

A bond hearing was held on May 27. Federal prosecutors wanted Hanan continued held without bond because of alleged tampering with a bracelet that notifies authorities if the defendant leaves home.

Pretrial Services (PTS) “filed a violation petition” on May 27 because “PTS believes there was some tampering with the EM (ankle) bracelet,” according to federal court records. Hanan’s casino “Players Card was used” on May 15 and 19.

“PTS believes the defendant has not been untruthful as to his whereabouts, that he doctored medical records and has been gambling,” the federal court detention records state. Hanan faces over 20 years in prison if convicted on all six felony charges. PTS reported there are audio recordings of Hanan allegedly involved in the credit card thefts.

Hanan claimed he did not falsify medical records involving an emergency room visit for a panic attack claiming he went but did not see a doctor. He also denied messing with his pretrial ankle monitor.

“As to the matter of the possible tampering of his ankle bracelet, the government notes that there were scratches on the bracelet as well as a stretching out of the holes of the fastener indicating that the unit was tampered with,” federal officials said at a May 27 detention hearing. Prosecutors “do not believe changing the defendant to a GPS monitoring may be enough.”

However, A judge ruled Hanan could be freed wearing an ankle bracelet but if any other concerns arise he will be held without bond. Trial is set for August 2.

Hanan is a GS-12 who made nearly $80,000 base salary in 2014, and started as a student trainee in 2004 then making about $27,000 annually, according to federalpay.org that tracks salaries of civil service employees.

USFS victims come the U.P. cities of Ironwood and Iron River, and several cities across eastern Wisconsin. New victims are being identified daily.

A federal probe has “potentially identified numerous other identify theft victims who are current or former” USFS employees. At least 21 victims have been identified including from the Upper Peninsula and Wisconsin.

Hanan is a human resources labor relations specialist in the at the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) Regional 9 office in Milwaukee – that falls under the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). However, Hanan is officially listed as absent without leave (AWOL) since Feb. 29, 2016, according to a May 4, 2016 criminal complaint filed by USDA Office of Inspector General Special Agent Margaret Massa and signed by U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph.

Hanan allegedly used his position and work computer to steal the identity of numerous people including numerous current and retired USFS employees across the country.

On May 5, federal agents raided Hanan’s home and pickup truck confiscating a large number of computer and identify related items including thumb-drives, computers, cell phones, gift cards, and other forms of electronic equipment.

• A federal probe has uncovered 21 additional credit card accounts associated with Hanan’s phone number. date, 16 have been identified as current USFS employees- and five of the accounts were opened after April 1.
• One co-worker, identified only as “W.G.C.” of Hayward, WI, discovered that Hanan has allegedly taken out a Meijer store credit card in his name to make a nearly $1,000 purchase at the Meijer’s Oak Creek store.
• Retired USFS employee “C.T.H.” and his wife “D.L.H.” were notified by Comenity Bank that Hanan allegedly tried to take out Meijer store credit card accounts in their names. The bank issued credit cards for Meijer Corporation.
• USFS retiree “C.T.H.” was notified about a April 2 suspicious $2,200 transaction at the West Allis Kmart Store and was purchased using a “Sears/K-Mart credit card issued by Citibank that was opened in the victim’s name without his consent,” the complaints states. However, Hanan’s car license plate was allegedly caught on parking lot surveillance photos in the parking lot of the same K-Mart.
• On March 21, USFS employee “J.M.” of Park Falls, WI “received an email from his credit monitoring service” about a nearly $2,000 purchase on a Comenity Bank Meijer credit card that the victim “did not purchase”. The card was taken out with Hanan’s home address in Sussex and the victim tried “unsuccessfully to cancel the request for the card.”
• On April 6, Hanan was “captured on surveillance footage” at a Meijer store in McHenry, IL using a credit card in the name of USFS employee “J.L.M.” of Ironwood, MI, who did not apply for the card. The footage shows Hanan allegedly getting into his 2013 blue Ford 150 bearing Wisconsin tags.
• The same day (April 6), Hanan “was captured on surveillance footage” making a purchase at a Meijer store in Algonquin, IL using a Meijer credit card in the name of” USFS employee “R.C.L.” of Iron River, MI.

Investigators believe Hanan “had access to approximately 150 different standard reports within the National Finance Center database” that includes personal information like USFS employee rosters, employee personnel reports, date on USFS retirees, payroll data and employee time/’attendance reports. Investigators and USFS supervisors are concerned that Hanan still has access to lots of information saved on his employee computer hard-drive and/or printed copies.

“One of the suspect credit card applications was made after Hanan’s Forest Service access was deactivated,” the complaint states. “There is reason to believe he will continue to use this information to open additional unauthorized credit cards in the name of unsuspecting Forest Service employees.”

“There is no guarantee that deactivating Hanan’s network will serve to prevent him from future misappropriation of Forest Service personal information,” Special Agent Massa warned in the complaint. “As long as Hanan “has not allowed his username or password combination to expire by resetting the password when prompted”that it is “still possible he could use it to log into his Forest Service laptop computer” but not the USFS network.

Official are worried that Hanan has used and continues to use information on people he gathered through his access to certain USFS sites for employees only.

“Hanan is still in possession of his government issued property” like “his laptop computer, cell phone, building access badge” and his LincPass Personal Identity Verification Card. The access badge, LincPass and USFS network access were deactivated on April 1.

“There is probable cause that Hanan has been involved in multiple additional acts of identity theft during his unauthorized absence,” the complaint states.

Hanan can no longer access employee records however a government laptop is still in Hanan’s possession.

Hanan remains on the run but investigators believe he stays in eastern Wisconsin and “continues to live” at his Sussex home but he loves to go to the casino.

“He spends a considerable amount of time at the Potawatomi Casino in Milwaukee, where a number of gift cards that he purchased with unauthorized credit cards have been converted into cash.”

Hanan “continues to have the ability to access employee records” because he possesses “a government issued laptop computer” that has some USFS employee records on the hard-drive.

Those records contain information on current and former USFS employees including “names addresses, telephone numbers, dates of birth, social security numbers” and more, the criminal complaint states.

Hanan “failed to return to work at the Forest Service without explanation when his scheduled leave, effective Dec. 18, 2015 expired as of Jan. 4., 2016.”

Hanan’s “global access to the (USFS) Electronic Official Personnel Folder and eTracker was removed March 31” and on April his “access to the National Finance center was removed” and records show he last accessed that mainframe on March 28, according to the eight-page felony criminal complaint.

Between Jan. 19 and April 20, Hanan “sent and exchanged emails from Colleen Barribeau, his Forest Service Supervisor,” claiming he had been in a bad car accident and needed to recover from a knee injury.

After failing to “submit adequate documentation to support his request,” Hanan has been advised he may be terminated and there USFS has had not contact with Hanan since April 20.

Some of the fraud was discovered because of “CSID, a government provided credit monitoring program offered as a result of the 2015 Office of Personnel Management data breach.

Michael Kevin Hanan, 34,

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-hanan-a073b965

https://www.federalpay.org/employees/forest-service/hanan-michael-k

http://www.dm.usda.gov/employ/labor/lro.htm

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy Joseph

USDA Office of Inspector General Special Agent Margaret Massa

Asst. U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad