11 arrested for counterfeit documents

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) - Federal agents say they've busted up the largest-ever counterfeit document ring in West Michigan that allegedly produced green cards and Social Security cards for illegal immigrants.

They say the documents have allowed thousands of immigrants to live and work here illegally.

"We consider this the largest fraudulent document ring in West Michigan," said Ken Duke, resident agent in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in Grand Rapids.
 
HSI agents, working with other agencies, arrested 11 people, including at least six members of one family, who allegedly sold the documents for years all over West Michigan.
 
Agents say the group often worked in the parking lot of Roosevelt Market, 1428 Grandville Avenue SW, recruiting potential customers by handing out business cards.

Among those arrested, Juan Jose Moralez-Martinez, who was indicted in 2004 for producing counterfeit documents but had eluded police for eight years. He is part of the Morales family that was "notorious" in Grand Rapids for providing false papers, Duke said.

Also arrested was his brother, Jacinto Morales-Martinez, who was identified by an informant as a leader of the organization.
 
Ricardo Uriel Morales-Jimenez, who is the son of Jacinto Morales-Martinez and was known as "scarface," allegedly worked as a runner by collecting photographs and biographical information of potential customers, agents said.

All 11 are citizens of Mexico who are in the United States illegally; two had been previously deported.

Feds say the group produced documents at a trailer on Tarpon Street SW in Wyoming about five years ago. Agents raided that facility in 2007, leading to five indictments and prison time for four people, including a Morales brother.

Duke said the group most recently was producing documents at a home on Plett Street SW in Grand Rapids.

And, he said, they used high-tech equipment in an attempt to keep ahead of the law. Documents show they used thumb and flash drives to store the templates of fake documents.

Often, potential customers took their own photographs with cell phones, texting them to the group, which then used them to produce the documents.

The arrests followed two undercover buys of fake documents in December 2011 and the following month, records show. The first buy -- $110 for a green card and Social Security card -- happened in Holland; the second -- $130 for the same documents -- happened in a laundromat parking lot in the Grand Rapids area.

ICE agents worked with police from Grand Rapids, Wyoming, Holland, the Ottawa County Sheriff's Department, Michigan State Police, and with the U.S. Marshal.