Local
Mexican resident and Trump supporter sentenced for voter fraud, identity theft in California
A Mexican citizen and avowed supporter of President Donald Trump who voted illegally in five federal elections after assuming the identity of an American man was sentenced Tuesday to 3 years, 9 months in prison in a federal courtroom in Sacramento.
Gustavo Araujo Lerma, who was convicted by a jury in August of passport fraud, voting by an alien and aggravated identity theft, had sought a sentence of 34 months, while federal prosecutors asked for 45 months to “reflect the seriousness of the offense.”
He could have faced a maximum sentence of 15 years, but U.S. District Judge John A. Mendez agreed to the government’s recommendation after delivering a stern lecture to Lerma, who continued insisting to the end Tuesday that he hadn’t really done anything that wrong.
“He still hasn’t admitted anything,” Mendez said before sentencing. “I don’t expect him to admit anything here this morning. That’s just not him. This is a man with absolutely no remorse.”
Mexican man bought identity papers of U.S. citizen
Lerma, 64, is a native of Leon, Mexico, who authorities say posed as an American named Hiram Enrique Velez after buying a birth certificate and Social Security card in that name in Chicago in 1992.
For the past 20 years, prosecutors say, Lerma voted illegally in federal elections and was an avid Trump supporter who sent money to the Republican Party and was rewarded for his fealty with letters of thanks from the president, former Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus and current RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel.
Lerma, a Sacramento resident and former auto mechanic who prosecutors say was born in Mexico in 1955, is believed to have married his wife there and had children in that country. Then, they say, he came to the United States and remarried his wife in Los Angeles so he could — purportedly as a U.S. citizen — provide legal status to his family members.
He testified at trial that he has “always been an honest person” and that he did not know his real identity because his first memory as a child is being found on the streets of San Antonio by a woman when he was 5 and later being handed over to a man named “Pedro Garza” who raised him.
Defendant testified he ‘could have’ been born in U.S.
Lerma said he did not know his real birthday and that he always believed he “could have” been born in the United States.
But, he said, he voted regularly in American elections.
“Yes, I signed up to vote and I voted,” Lerma testified. “I’m a Republican and I voted for Donald Trump, too.
“I’ve always voted for my Republican Party.’
Prosecutors and the jury didn’t buy his argument that he really was Velez, which began to unravel in 2013 when federal officials first noticed that his passport renewal application carried the Social Security number of a Puerto Rican man — Velez — who died in 1997.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Katherine Lydon noted that Lerma’s pattern of voting illegally in federal elections is an “incredibly rare crime,” and that his theft of a U.S. citizen’s identity gave him access to all the benefits of being an American.
“From the government’s perspective, he went on a 25-year fraud run,” Lydon told the judge.
Lerma’s lawyer, Assistant Federal Defender Doug Beevers, argued for leniency, saying immigration amnesty in the 1980s led to an increase in foreigners trying to get into the United States.
“It’s not legal, it’s not right, but I think it’s understandable,” Beevers said.
Judge finds defendant has no remorse
But Mendez was not receptive, especially after Lerma, who spoke through a Spanish interpreter, began defending his actions and blaming others for allowing him to end up with an Illinois driver’s license in the name of Velez.
“Your honor, I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about law,” Lerma said. “I have no schooling.
“When they gave me that (driver’s license) I thought that was right. I even bought a headstone with that name where I thought I was going to be buried.”
But Mendez noted that, during trial, prosecutors had to bring in Velez’ son to testify that the defendant was not his father.
“Mr. Lerma, you stole more than a name,” Mendez said. “You stole a person’s identity.
“Every time you used Mr. Velez’ name you lied.”
Comments