Prosecutors: Murders part of illegal document ring

NORFOLK

Two illegal immigrants living in Virginia Beach were charged in a federal indictment with being part of a Mexico -based fraudulent-document ring that assaulted and killed rival vendors to establish its foothold in 19 cities, federal officials announced Thursday.

A grand jury in Richmond charged Edy Oliverez-Jiminez, 24, with murder, kidnapping and assault in the July 6, 2010, killing of a document vendor in Little Rock, Ark. The victim's hands and feet were bound and his eyes and mouth were taped shut before he was beaten to death, according to the indictment.

After the killing, Oliverez-Jiminez moved to Virginia Beach and set up a fraudulent-document mill catering to illegal immigrants, the indictment says.

The murder charge against Oliverez-Jiminez carries a possible death sentence if he is convicted. The Justice Department has not yet decided whether to seek the death penalty.

A co-defendant, Erik Martinez-Ortiz, 21, is charged with assisting Oliverez-Jiminez in the document mill, in the 1300 block of White Pine Court in the Green Run section of Virginia Beach, the indictment says.

Authorities raided that location in November and arrested Oliverez-Jiminez and Martinez-Ortiz around the same time. They have been in jail since and now also have deportation proceedings pending.

Martinez-Ortiz also is charged with attacking two document vendors in Richmond in the summer of 2009.

One victim had the barrel of a gun placed in his mouth while being warned not to sell false identification documents, according to the indictment.

"The indictment portrays a deadly criminal organization that uses brutal violence to eliminate rivals, protect its turf and enforce discipline against its own members," U.S. Attorney Neil MacBride said in a statement.

In all, 30 people have been charged in the case, including the man believed to be the U.S. ring leader, Israel Cruz Millan, based in Raleigh, N.C.

Millan kept tight reins on the operation, MacBride said. The indictment says that if members violated rules, they were disciplined, including being beaten, having their eyebrows shaved, or being forced to wear weights.

Prosecutors said besides the Virginia Beach location, cells were located in Richmond and Northern Virginia and 10 other states including North Carolina.

The indictment says the ring produced and sold driver's licenses, Social Security cards, work documents and other bogus papers that are crucial for illegal immigrants to gain employment in this country.

A set of documents sold for between $150 and $200.

Proceeds estimated at more than $1 million were funneled back to the group's leaders in Mexico, prosecutors said.

The investigation, dubbed "Operation Phalanx," was handled by the Norfolk office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement with help from the Virginia State Police and the Chesterfield County Police Department.

The case is not believed to be connected to the slaying last week in Mexico of ICE agent Jaime Zapata.

ICE agents and other law enforcement officials this week rounded up 100 drug-dealing suspects across the country linked to the Mexican cartel believed responsible for the killing.

Tim McGlone, (757) 446-2343, tim.mcglone@pilotonline.com