San Fernando Valley Men Sentenced for Manufacturing, Selling Fake Driver’s Licenses, Green Cards, and More – Daily News

LOS ANGELES – Two men from the San Fernando Valley are sentenced to federal prison terms Monday morning for participating in a document smuggling ring that created and sold counterfeit U.S. passport cards, social security cards, driver’s licenses and other documents.

Carlos A. Hernandez, 44, of Granada Hills, pleaded guilty to one conspiracy and one felon in possession of firearms in February, and Miguel J. Guerrero, 23, of Van Nuys, pleaded one conspiracy and one to one the production of false identification documents, according to the US prosecutor.

The government has ordered the judge to sentence Hernandez to 2 1/2 years and Guerrero to 2 years.

A third defendant, Nestor Perez, 32, of Van Nuys, also pleaded guilty to two federal charges and is due to be tried in Los Angeles federal court on July 19.

The three men admitted their roles in the five-year program in which they worked to produce false identification documents that appear to have been issued by the U.S. government and driver’s licenses allegedly from several states, including California, Wyoming, and Pennsylvania.

Hernandez was taking orders, some via SMS, from customers looking for certain false identification documents. His co-defendants then manufactured the forged ID cards in a Van Nuys apartment and stored them solely for the purpose of producing forged documents, prosecutors said.

After the fake IDs were ready, Hernandez notified customers and arranged pick-up times and locations, usually in the parking lots of restaurants or pharmacies, for cash.

On January 7, the defendants at Van Nuys residence were in possession of 21 U.S. passport cards, 68 social security cards, five legal permanent residence cards – commonly known as green cards – two work permit cards, 135 driver’s licenses, 11 foreign identification documents for Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Peru and around 1,000 forged seals of authenticity are evidenced by court files.

Hernandez was also found in possession of $ 40,000 in cash at his home, prosecutors said.