Between July 2005 and August 2008, 112 individuals across the country were charged with federal passport fraud and related offenses, according to the U.S. State Department. The individuals charged include fugitives, military deserters, delinquent taxpayers, parolees, convicted felons, habitual drunken drivers and undocumented workers from more than 20 countries, all of whom wanted passports to hide from law enforcement, according to authorities.
Dubbed "Operation Deathmatch," the investigation was a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Diplomatic Security's San Francisco and Los Angeles field offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Sacramento field office.
Senior security service officials from both agencies, who did not want to reveal their names, said investigators merged California's death record database, going back to 1940, with passport requests. Though this type of investigation is ongoing, the officials said, this operation was the largest and most successful because computer technology is so much more advanced than it used to be.
The Deathmatch defendants include Chih-Fong Chen of Atherton, an undocumented Chinese immigrant. She stole the birth certificate of a deceased woman, Lorena Lew, while she was working for the Jocelyne J. K. Lew Immigration Law Firm.
And while it's possible for terrorists to steal and use other people's identities, senior diplomatic security officials with the U.S. State Department said there were no defendants charged with terrorism as part of this investigation.
Officials also said that there was no particular reason for announcing the results of Deathmatch Tuesday, especially since the work is ongoing and began in 2005.
Most of the people charged were arrested or surrendered in federal courts, according to the U.S. State Department. Some remain fugitives. Federal passport offenses carry a penalty of up to 10 years in prison.
Law enforcement officials also seized three firearms, $650,000 in cash, a Mercedes and more than 80 of the fraudulently obtained U.S. passports.
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