Corona man pleads guilty in face ID ring

A Corona man, who worked as a “cutter” for a $1 million-a-year Jackson Heights criminal ring that sold fake government IDs, pled guilty to the crime according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Odilon Mendez, a.k.a. El Gordo, 24, of 85-21 56th Avenue in Corona, faces up to six years in prison and is the thirteenth defendant in the case. Four of the other defendants have cases pending in Queens Supreme Court, and four others are being sought by the police.
Mendez, who pleaded guilty to Attempted Enterprise Corruption, will be sentenced on May 25. According to the District Attorney, Mendez admitted that he worked as a “cutter,” producing fraudulent documents, at a “mill.”
Mendez’ duties included typing numbers, dates of birth and names onto the fake identity documents, as well as placing any photographs that needed to be placed on the documents.
According to the District Attorney, such fake ID rings generally consist of a boss, a cutter, runners, and street sellers. The “boss” manages the operation, the “street sellers” attract buyers and get the photographs and personal information to be placed on the fake IDs, the “runners” pick up orders and deliver them to the “mill,” and then the “cutters” make the IDs.
“With today’s disposition, 13 of the 21 individuals charged as part of ‘Operation Paper Chase’ with papering the streets of our city and state with thousands of phony government identification documents - such as resident alien cards, driver’s licenses, and Social Security cards - have been successfully convicted of participating in the widespread black market trafficking of fraudulent identity documents,” Brown said. “Such bogus documents … could easily have been used by terrorists to undermine the efforts of homeland security.”
Begun in May 2004, the investigation started when city officials found fraudulent documents being sold on Roosevelt Avenue, a location deemed by the District Attorney’s office “an epicenter of such fraudulent activity on the East Coast.” On Roosevelt Avenue, the cost for a Social Security card is about $40, a New York State driver’s license $50 and a DHS-ICE resident alien card $60.