Mexican National Sentenced for 28-Year Identity Theft Scheme

COLUMBIA, S.C. - Marco Antonio Lopez Gutierrez, an illegal alien residing in Lancaster, was sentenced to four years in federal prison for a decades-long aggravated identity fraud scheme.

The defendant's crimes involved an elaborate and extensive identity theft scheme that spanned approximately 28 years while living in three separate states. Gutierrez used the victim's Puerto Rican birth certificate and social security number to obtain a U.S. Passport, multiple state drivers licenses, credit cards and even an FHA loan all under the victim's information. In the mid-1990s the defendant was convicted of fraud, larceny, and assault and served time in a North Carolina state prison under the victim's identity.

Gutierrez's victim estimated that he spent thousands of hours contacting banks, law enforcement, and creditors before Gutierrez's arrest trying to clear his name and establish that he was a victim and not a debtor.

Gutierrez's scheme negatively affected his victim's ability to borrow from financial institutions, prevented his victim from obtaining a state driver's license, because one was already issued in his name, and Gutierrez caused his victim, a United States citizen, to be questioned by law enforcement on at least two occasions after Gutierrez falsely reported to the police that Gutierrez was the identity theft victim and that the victim had stolen his identity.

After Gutierrez was arrested on federal charges, he lied to the presiding United States Magistrate, and the United States Probation Office, about his identity, so that he could obtain appointed counsel at the taxpayer's expense under the victim's identity.

U.S. District Judge Cameron McGowan Currie sentenced Gutierrez to 48 months' imprisonment. The Court also ordered Gutierrez to pay $79,010.44 in restitution to the victim of his crimes. Following his incarceration, he will be deported.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Diplomatic Security Services and the Social Security Administration's Office of Inspector General. Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kerry B. McTigue prosecuted the case.

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