CHRISTIANSTED — A Dominican Republic native who entered the country illegally in order to stay here — got his wish to reside in the United States — only it will be in a federal prison after his conviction on an illegal immigration charge.
Ramon Torres-Pichardo, 28, of Santo Domingo, was sentenced to eight months of imprisonment by U.S. District Court Judge Wilma A. Lewis on his conviction for a material false statement, U.S. Attorney Delia L. Smith said.
Torres-Pichardo’s sentence will be followed by two years of supervised release and a special assessment of $100 on the material false statement conviction.
According to court documents, on March 29, 2022, Torres-Pichardo presented himself for
inspection to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at the Henry E. Rohlsen Airport in St. Croix
before attempting to board a flight to San Juan, PR, where he presented a Puerto Rico driver’s license as identification.
During routine travel and immigration related questions by CBP, Torres-Pichardo falsely claimed to be a United States citizen and a resident of Puerto Rico. Torres-Pichardo was then referred for a secondary inspection due to concerns regarding the authenticity of his driver’s license.
When questioned, Torres-Pichardo failed to correctly respond to questions regarding commonly
known areas in Puerto Rico.
Afterwards, Torres-Pichardo admitted that he was not a citizen of the United States and that he was not legally authorized to be present in the United States.
Upon further investigation, CBP determined that the Puerto Rico driver’s license presented by Torres-Pichardo was fraudulent.
This case was investigated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security
Investigations (HSI). It was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Evan Rihkye.