A man who federal authorities contend is the head of one of the largest multistate document-fraud rings in the country was apprehended over the weekend in Mexico.
Pedro Castorena, who was indicted last year by a federal grand jury in Denver, was arrested Saturday by Mexican authorities with assistance from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“This is huge,” said Carl Rusnok, an ICE spokesman. “He’s been one of our top 10 most-wanted.”
Authorities contend Casto rena is a founding member and leader of the Castorena Family Organization, which engages in the nationwide manufacturing and distribution of counterfeit immigration and identification documents.
For $80 to $300, buyers allegedly could get fake Social Security cards, ID cards, birth certificates and other documents from the ring, which reportedly operated out of a coin-operated laundry, a meat market and a flea market in the Denver metro area.
The ring created documents that were distributed nationwide, authorities said. Law enforcement authorities, who have pursued the organization since 2000, have seized 20 computerized document-manufacturing setups and tens of thousands of blank identity documents.
Prosecutors are concerned the documents were being used not only by illegal immigrants but by drug smugglers, money launderers and potential terrorists.
Castorena will face charges of conspiracy, fraud, misuse of visas and money laundering, according to an ICE news release.
“The next step is the formal request for extradition,” said Jeff Dorschner, spokesman for the Colorado U.S. Attorney’s office.
Investigators say Castorena and members of his organization also were making and distributing fraudulent documents in cities throughout the U.S., including Denver, Los Angeles, Chicago, Atlanta, Winston-Salem, N.C., Lincoln, Neb., Des Moines, Iowa, and Albuquerque.
“The arrest of Pedro Castorena is a landmark achievement that deals a serious blow to one of the largest fraudulent document organizations in the United States,” Julie Myers, Homeland Security assistant secretary for ICE, said in a prepared statement.
Staff writer Alicia Caldwell can be reached at 303-820-1930 or at acaldwell@denverpost.com.
