by BJ Fictum
The Crete News;

Illegal documents, confidential informants, vehicle seizures, federal indictments, prison time and a great deal of interagency cooperation and information sharing were all included in a two-year nationwide case recently wrapped up by the Saline County Sheriff’s Office.

Saline County Sheriff Alan Moore said the recent investigation came to closure with the arrest of two people on a variety of local, state and federal charges involving distribution of illegal birth certificates and Social Security cards in the Crete area.

Without the interagency cooperation, the case and subsequent prosecution would not have been possible.

“A total team effort took place in many different ways and we utilized numerous resources to complete the investigation,” Moore said.

Sheriff’s Sgt. Ken Uher, the lead investigator, said the sheriff’s office received financial assistance for the investigation from the Mid-States Organized Crime Information Center (MOCIC) in Springfield, Mo. and the federal Social Security Administration. (The sheriff’s office is a member agency of MOCIC.)

The list of agencies and organizations which cooperated and assisted in the case included Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Social Security Administration (SSA), the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (PIS), U.S. Attorney’s Office, Saline County Attorney’s Office, Saline County Clerk’s Office, Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles and Saline County’s Crisis Intervention Team (SCCIT).

SCCIT includes members of sheriff’s office and Wilber, Crete and Friend police departments.

The story begins in May 2008 when the sheriff’s office received information through a confidential informant that Juan Marcus Lucas, also known as Felipe Lucas, was selling the illegal documents in the Crete area, thereby enabling illegals to gain employment.

Investigators monitored the purchase of a Puerto Rico birth certificate and matching Social Security card for $1,200 by a confidential informant from Lucas in September 2008 in Crete.

Uher contacted Lawrence Sattley with the Grand Island ICE office and the investigation expanded to include USPS Inspector General’s Office agent Jason Albers and SSA agent Brian Dostal.

According to Uher, the informant, Lucas and Marcos Bautista went to Macon, Mo., to obtain photo ID cards with the obtained illegal documents. Investigators later determined that Bautista had assisted Lucas in transporting prior clients to Missouri for the same purpose.

Once the compiled information was submitted to Saline County Attorney Tad Eickman and U.S. Attorney Steven Russel, Eickman obtained an arrest warrant for Lucas.

Another monitored transaction that figured into the case occurred on Sept. 29, 2008 when agents Albers, Dostal and Sattley; Sheriff Moore and Uher monitored another Lucas transaction. This time, three Puerto Rico birth certificates with matching Social Security cards were purchased by the informant for $3,100. The exchange took place in the Crete Wal-Mart parking lot.

At the transaction’s conclusion, Lucas was arrested and lodged with Saline County Corrections and his vehicle was seized for further investigation.

The SCCIT, led by Sgt. Rich Zimmerman, served a previously obtained search warrant at Lucas’s residence, 2125 Hawthorne Avenue in Crete. During the warrant service, investigators learned Lucas had obtained titles for numerous vehicles under the name Felipe Lucas and Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles investigator Dave Bell joined the case.

A number of illegal birth certificates for Puerto Rico, Texas and California; fictitious Social Security cards, operator’s licenses and photo ID cards were also seized.
Three days after the arrest of Lucas, the confidential informant notified Zimmerman that Bautista, who had assisted Lucas’s clients by providing transportation to Missouri, was seen near 12th and Main in. He was arrested minutes later without incident and lodged with Saline County Corrections.

The following day (Oct. 3, 2008), Uher and Deputy Jennifer Retchless executed a search warrant on the vehicle Lucas was driving when he was arrested. Seven Puerto Rico  birthday certificates and accompanying Social Security cards were recovered.

The group continued to pursue federal charges and on Oct. 27, 2008, a federal grand jury handed down an indictment for Lucas for distribution of illegal documents.
However, the case did not end there.

With assistance from DMV investigator  Bell, investigators confirmed that Lucas had titles under his fictitious name (Felipe Lucas) for seven vehicles and he was charged with 45 counts ranging from possession of stolen vital statistics documents, a Class 3 felony, and conspiracy to commit a Class 3 felony, itself a Class 3 felony, to felony title fraud, a Class 4 felony.

Due to the charges, Lucas’s vehicles were eligible for seizure by the sheriff’s office. In the end, the sheriff’s office seized seven of the vehicles and on Jan. 14, 2009, five were sold at a sheriff’s sale conducted by Chief Deputy Arlen Stahl.

Moore said the department decided to keep two vehicles, including a 2000 Cadillac DeVille two-door sedan, to replace two older vehicles.

Twenty-seven sets of illegal birth certificates and Social Security cards, 10 state ID cards and seven sets of INS documents were seized during the local portion of the investigation.

As the case continued, investigators followed the trail backwards to determine the source of the documents coming into the Crete area.

With assistance of Postal Inspector Perry Mitchell, the packages sent to Lucas were traced to a post office box in Grand Rapids, Mich., rented by Leonardo Castro.
When contact was made with Castro, more than 100 identification documents were seized.

Castro was sentenced in U.S. District Court Jan. 5 to 18 months in prison, a $1,000 fine and three years probation on documents fraud charges.
Lucas remains in ICE custody pending additional charges.