Man pleads guilty in fake ID ring that helped Cargill workers

By Tom Johnston on 7/30/2008

MeatingPlace

A Columbus, Ohio, man pleaded guilty to two felony charges including aggravated identity fraud and identity fraud conspiracy following a federal investigation into a multi-state conspiracy to obtain identification cards and sell them to illegal immigrants.

Jose Gutierrez-Ramirez, 34, will spend at least two years in a federal prison for his role in the counterfeit identification ring, according to the Daily-News Record in Harrisonburg, Va., where his case was heard in a U.S. District Court.

Gutierrez-Ramirez reportedly admitted to being in the country illegally. He faces as many as seven years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Meanwhile, the mother of his two children, 23-year-old Christina Cheatham, also of Columbus, Ohio, is scheduled to appear in court Aug. 5 on charges of conspiracy and identity fraud conspiracy. She faces up to 20 years in prison and $500,000 in fines.

The case relates to a federal raid in March at a Cargill Meat Solutions value-added meats plant in Dayton, Va., which led to offsite arrests including the arrest of production employee Edwin Roberto Mendez.

According to the indictment, Mendez led Cargill employees to Ohio, where Gutierrez-Ramirez and Cheatham allegedly had set up a "staging area" to help illegal immigrants obtain Ohio identification cards using real birth certificates and Social Security cards from Puerto Rico or Texas.

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