A federal grand jury indicted a 30-year-old man on charges of impersonating a federal officer and defrauding people who paid him to change their immigration status.
On Monday, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested José Mario Carrera-Marrufo at a public housing apartment, said Leticia Zamarripa, spokeswoman for the agency.
Carrera-Marrufo, a Mexican citizen, was charged with wire fraud, money laundering and impersonation of an officer or employee of the United States, according to the indictment handed up Feb. 6.
"As part of the scheme to defraud he targeted individuals who had exhausted, or were in the process of exhausting all legitimate means to secure immigration documentation for their relatives," the indictment reads.
According to court records, from Nov. 1, 2010, through Dec. 31, 2011, Carrera-Marrufo posed as an immigration attorney or a representative of an immigration agency.
He would reach out to his victims over the telephone, by text message and email, authorities said. In other instances, he would meet the victims in person.
Through his scheme, Carrera-Marrufo collected between $1,000 and $10,800 from each of his victims, ICE officials said.
The victims were often told to email him their personal information and identification documents. Once he received the documents, the victims were instructed to deposit money into a bank account.
After making the payment, Carrera-Marrufo's victims never received the immigration documents or a change in their status. According to federal officials, Carrera-Marrufo had several bank accounts under different names.
To collect more money from the victims, he would often tell them to refer others to him so he could reduce the total cost of his services through a "package deal" and speed up the progress of changing their immigration status, officials said.
He is scheduled to appear before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert F. Casteñada at 8:30 a.m. Friday for his detention hearing.
Alex Hinojosa may be reached at email@example.com; 546-6137.