Columbia County man arrested for multiple charges including impersonating a dead person

ActionNewsJax.com News Staff
·2 min read
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Luis Alberto Villazon, 63, has been charged with fraud, theft, and identity theft for obtaining drivers license and food stamps of a person that is no longer alive.

According to the Department of Justice, in 1998, Villazon had previously lived in New York, applied for a Florida drivers license using the name and date of birth of a person who was born in July of 1959 and died in New York in 1976.

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Throughout the years he renewed the license several times under the false identity and also obtained a license in his real name.

In 2011, Villazon applied for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits under both identities. Under the false identity he received $25,388 through December 2022. Under his real identity he received $22,902 through November 2021.

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If Villazon is proven guilty, the wire fraud charges carry a maximum penalty of 20 years in federal prison, theft of government property carries a maximum penalty of 10 years’ imprisonment, the false statements and fraudulent use of a Social Security number charges each carry a maximum penalty of 5 years, and the aggravated identity theft charges each carry a mandatory 2-year sentence, at least one of which must run consecutively to any other sentence. The indictment also notifies Villazon that the United States intends to seek forfeiture of approximately $50,000, the estimated amount of proceeds obtained as a result of the offenses.

This case was investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Department of Agriculture – Office of Inspector General, the Social Security Administration – Office of the Inspector General, and the Columbia County Sheriff’s Office. It will be prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Arnold B. Corsmeier.

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