10/18/2007

News / International forger headed to federal prison

Linked from: http://www.greatfallstribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071018/NEWS01/710180303/1002

An international forger apprehended by Customs and Border Protection agents as he tried to enter the United States with false documents was sentenced Wednesday to 38 months in federal prison.

Ranjeet Singh, a 30-year-old resident of Manchester, England, and a citizen of India, also was fined $300 and given three years of supervised release, according to Bill Mercer, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana.


Singh was sentenced in federal court in Great Falls after having being convicted during a two-day trial of visa fraud, aggravated identity theft and identification fraud/document production.

Prosecutors said that on Dec. 2, Singh appeared at the Port of Sweetgrass and presented his resident alien card based on his marriage to a citizen of the United States, although he was with a woman identified as his Canadian girlfriend.
Customs and Border Protection officers searched the vehicle and found a wedding dress, and a paper copy of an altered resident alien card of another person, letters of acceptance of other people to universities in England and apparent bank statements of other people.

Customs officers opened Singh's computer and discovered hundreds of documents, including two computer templates for resident alien cards, complete alteration of the biographical page of Singh's Indian passport and his British residence permit into a new identity, Internal Revenue Service income tax returns in the names on the false resident alien card templates, templates for university acceptance letters and affidavits referencing these documents in support of visa applications to the United Kingdom.

Customs officers then called agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Singh admitted to owning the computer in the vehicle and that making a few sets of fraudulent documents for subjects, according to court documents.

He told investigators that the documents were sold to subjects to submit to British High Commissions around the world to support applications for immigration entry and status as students in the United Kingdom.

E-mails stored in Singh's computer indicated he charged a fee of up to 2,250 pounds (approximately $4,500) per set, according to prosecutors.

Singh later admitted to producing the fraudulent acceptance letters for approximately a year and a half, adding he had created an unknown quantity, investigators said.

The investigation was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the Port of Sweetgrass and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Great Falls Resident Agency.

The United States received cooperation from the British Consulate in New York City, the British Embassy Prosecution Liaison in Washington, D.C., and the British High Commissions in Pakistan and Ghana, according to Mercer.

He said the conviction is a direct result of the District of Montana's multi-agency Border Policy Initiative in place since mid-2002. This initiative combines inspection requirements at the ports of entry with direct immediate access to an assistant U.S. Attorney, along with a prompt ICE and FBI border response.




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