The back story ---
It begins with former mayor of El Paso, Texas and tax accountant Ray Salazar. In 1988, Salazar listed among his clients a Mr. Jose Lopez. Lopez is a citizen of Mexico and a resident alient in the US (he has a green card permitting him to work in the US). Three weeks of the month, Lopez works at a ranch near El Paso and returns home to his family just across the border in adjacent city, Ciudad Juarez for the fourth week (El Paso and Ciudad Juarez both part of the same metro area but are separated by the US/Mexico border).
All was well until one evening when Lopez was returning home he was mugged and his wallet stolen. He reported the theft to, among others, the Social Security Administration which issued another green card with the same ID number as the original card.Fast forward to 1995 when Servando Trejo, a citizen of Mexico paid $1,500 to a human smuggler to take him across the border into Arizona. Once there, Trejo purchased a fraudulent birth certificate and social security card in the name of Jose Lopez. Trejo, an illegal immigrant, then assumed the identity of Lopez. With the Lopez identity, Trejo worked at several different jobs and eventually moved to Greeley, Colorado where he opened a bank account and gained a Colorado drivers license.
The fraud seemed to be going well for Trejo. Especially well, since Trejo chose not to pay income tax on his earnings during the years and by 1999 had accumulated a bill for $11,000 in taxes owed. That (1999) was when the IRS decided that the tax bill needed to be paid and contacted the real Lopez in El Paso and presented him a bill for $12,000. The real Jose Lopez, the part-time ranch hand in El Paso only made $10,000 per year and not only did not truly owe that much. Moreover, he lacked the means to pay the bill.
That is when he turned to his CPA, Ray Salazar. Salazar worked with the IRS to resolve the problem but the IRS was skeptical of Lopez' claim. It wasn't until 2003 that Salazar was able to have an IRS agent take a close look at the circumstances and realize that Lopez had been the victim of identity theft. The IRS promptly removed the claim for back taxes and the situation appeared to be fully resolved. Jose Lopez never did find out who had been using his identity and could not be sure that it would not happen again.
In 2005, Trejo (still masquerading as Lopez) living and working in Greeley, filed an income tax return. Trejo had less than $2,000 withheld from his check to cover taxes but when he filed the return, he was given a refund of more than $4,000. This event apparently triggered something in the IRS system and again the real Lopez in El Paso was presented with a bill for $11,000 in taxes. Once more, Jose Lopez turned to Salazar the CPA for assistance in working with the IRS. Through another source, Lopez discovered that someone in northern Colorado was using his social security number. Lopez contacted the Loveland, Colorado police department who referred him to the Weld County Sheriff's office.
The Weld County Sheriff's deputies begin an investigation. On August 13, the deputies located the "Jose Lopez" they sought and arrested Servando Trejo at a feedlot where he worked. Trejo was arrested on charges of identity theft and forgery. Trejo later pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of criminal impersonation and was sentenced to probation for two years. Trejo was subsequently transferred from the Weld County jail to the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). ICE subsequently deported Trejo to Mexico.
While still in the custody of the Weld County Sheriff's office, Trejo told the deputies how he was able to get large income tax refunds through a local business, Amalia's Translation and Tax Service. With this information the deputies investigated further to found that, not only Trejo but, a great many other illegal aliens were using Amalia's Translation and Tax Service to obtain income tax refunds under assumed identities ($2.7 million). Deputies sought and obtained a search warrant and seized the Amalia records. The seized tax records revealed approximately 1,300 cases of identity theft.
--- end back story
Information in a court case is normally considered public record. The evidence in the case was the tax records of Amalia's clients who had an interest in their tax records not being disclosed as a part of the public record of the case. Consequently, the Weld County District Attorney had the tax records put under seal and reviewed by grand juries (whose sessions are secret).
The ACLU, curiously, rather than supporting the Sheriff and District Attorney in their efforts to bring the identity thieves to justice chose to oppose their efforts and demand that the evidence either be returned to Amalia or destroyed and abandon attempts to prosecute the fraudsters.
Today the court heard opening arguments in the case. It is not certain how this will end or if there can be found an elegant compromise that both protects the rights of citizens from unreasonable search/seizure while still giving law enforcement the ability to effectively perform their duties and keep us safe from criminal activity.
Posts
