Illegal immigrant who worked security at US airport pleads not guilty to ID theft

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

http://news.yahoo.com/illegal-immigrant-worked-security-us-airport-pleads-not-175411182.html

By David Porter, The Associated Press | Associated Press – 2 hrs 23 mins ago

NEWARK, N.J. - An illegal immigrant from Nigeria who allegedly used a murder victim's name to work as a security supervisor at a New Jersey airport the past 20 years pleaded not guilty Tuesday to identity theft.

Authorities say Bimbo Oyewole, 54, had been using the name of the victim of an unsolved 1992 murder in New York City so he could work at Newark Liberty International Airport. Prosecutors said he may have four or five other aliases.

His arrest Monday came the same day an unrelated federal report found that the Newark airport mishandled security breaches.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the area's main airports and other transit hubs, says Oyewole entered the United States illegally in 1989 and worked under several contractors at the airport.

A judge raised Oyewole 's bail from $75,000 to $250,000 Tuesday.

It wasn't immediately known how the personal information of the murder victim, Jerry Thomas, was acquired. Police in New York didn't say whether Oyewole was a suspect in his murder.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said Oyewole most recently worked under FJC Security Services and supervised about 30 guards. The agency said its investigation found no indication that Oyewole used the fake identity for any reason other than to live in the United States.

FJC Security, which received an airport contract in 2003, said it conducted a background check on the guard, as had New Jersey state police and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

"In all cases, he passed the background checks," FJC spokesman Michael McKeon said. "During his time with FJC, he had nothing in his record or his performance to indicate a cause for concern or a reason to question the state police and federal government's background checks."

A spokesman for Customs and Border Protection didn't immediately return a message seeking comment.

An airport employee who was familiar with Oyewole as Thomas said the private security guards he supervised are responsible for manning security checkpoints after passenger gates close for the evening and before they reopen in the morning. The guards also inspect delivery vehicles for possible unauthorized cargo, he said, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak about the matter.

[Obama 2012 1,714]

Good to know that it's highly possible for sleeper cells to function in this nation so easily if they wanted to. 20 years undetected? Man, that's great!

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Good to know that it's highly possible for sleeper cells to function in this nation so easily if they wanted to. 20 years undetected? Man, that's great!

http://www.adn.com/2011/04/22/1823607/23arrestedcop.html

Anchorage officer charged with passport fraud

FALSE IDENTITY: Anchorage patrolman of 6 years is a Mexican national, federal officials say.

By CASEY GROVE

casey.grove@adn.com

Published: April 23rd, 2011 10:46 PM

Last Modified: April 23rd, 2011 10:47 PM

An Anchorage police officer who took on a false identity that masked his Mexican citizenship has been arrested and charged with passport fraud, federal officials said Friday

Attorney Karen Loeffler said that patrolman Rafael Espinoza, on the Anchorage police force for about six years, was really Rafael Mora-Lopez, a Mexican national working in the United States illegally.

The man known as Officer Espinoza -- Mora-Lopez, in reality -- was an excellent employee, Police Chief Mark Mew said. The investigation has so far not turned up any information that Mora-Lopez was involved in any other criminal activity outside the case announced Friday, Mew said.

"His problem was he lied his way into the job," Mew said.

The identity swap was discovered when the police officer applied for a U.S. passport in January and officials from the State Department found that the Rafael Espinoza identity he was using was actually another person, a U.S. citizen in the Lower 48, Loeffler said.

The investigation is continuing, Loeffler said.

"We're just sorting through everything at this point," Loeffler said. "What happened is as soon as we were able to identify who the person was, the most important thing was to take action."

Mora-Lopez was arrested Thursday. Loeffler declined to say when Mora-Lopez entered the United States and where he has been since then. She said he didn't appear to be part of a larger conspiracy.

"We have no evidence at this time that this individual had been anything but a good police officer," Loeffler said.

Still, the man known as Espinoza handled many cases in six years, Mew said.

The state Attorney General's office will be looking closely at cases Officer Espinoza investigated, said John Skidmore, supervisor of the department's Special Prosecutions Unit.

"At this time, we have no reason to believe, with what we know so far, that this gentleman, this officer's, good work for APD has in any way been compromised or questioned," Skidmore said. "The work that he performed, the other facts to which he testified, we have no reason to believe that any of that is inaccurate. He did so under an assumed name, and yes that's something we need to evaluate and look at."

Part of the ongoing investigation will look into how the Mexican national slipped through the screening process for Anchorage police officers, Mew said. For example, officers must pass a lie-detector test during the interview process, Mew said.

"As part of that, do you ask them their name?" a reporter asked Mew.

"He obviously got through the polygraph," Mew said. "I can tell you what we generally ask, but what's at issue is what did we ask on that day, in that interview, and we haven't gotten to that yet."

Both Espinozas -- the real one and the one hired by the Anchorage Police Department -- had "squeaky clean backgrounds," Mew said. There was nothing to indicate the man should not have been hired, he said.

Loeffler's office said in a prepared statement that Mora-Lopez is 51 years old. At his arraignment just after Loeffler and Mew took questions from reporters, Mora-Lopez told a U.S. magistrate judge he was 47.

Mora-Lopez pleaded not guilty at his arraignment. Passport fraud, a felony, carries a maximum 10-year sentence, according to the U.S. Attorney's office.

Judge John D. Roberts set Mora-Lopez's bail at $50,000 and approved conditions for his release that include home confinement and electronic monitoring.

Mora-Lopez's attorney revealed that his client had turned in a letter of resignation to the police department. The attorney, who declined to give his name, told the judge that Mora-Lopez had lived in Anchorage since the late 1980s and he has a wife and child living here.

Wearing orange prison clothes, Mora-Lopez had tears in his eyes as court officers put him in handcuffs and led him from the room.

"I was pretty proud to serve the community," Mora-Lopez said as he shuffled out.

[Iyawo Ijebu 157]

All your airports are belongs to us

[spookyturtle 9,465]

Good to know that it's highly possible for sleeper cells to function in this nation so easily if they wanted to. 20 years undetected? Man, that's great!

Sad, but true. And there are plenty more where that came from. Plenty of citizens who obtained citizenship fraudulently too. Especially 10+ years ago.

[Ban Hammer 12,835]

All your airports are belongs to us

[Darnell 8,478]

USCIS ! Scrub yer data !!

No, wait - VETTE yer data