Fake ICE Agent Human Smuggler Gets 14-Year Sentence

(ProsperNews.net) – A woman has been jailed for pretending to be a federal agent as part of a migrant smuggling scam. Chief Judge Alia Moses sent 35-year-old Kimberly Cruz to jail for 14 years for taking migrants across the border at Eagle Pass, Texas, and presenting herself as a federal agent or immigration attorney.

Cruz made around $275,000 from the scam, during which she told hopeful immigrants in Mexico that she was an attorney who could get them across the border. At Eagle Pass, the convicted fraudster told officials she was an agent with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and that the migrants had a parole period of up to 48 hours. Then she took them through the border and released them.

According to a statement from the United States Attorney’s Office Western District of Texas, Cruz convinced “multiple” migrants of her lawyer status. Federal agents initially arrested her in 2019, and she pleaded guilty to wire fraud that year. Special Agent in Charge Craig Larrabee in San Antonio said Cruz’s sentence sent a message that “Individuals who impersonate a legal advocate to exploit others for their own personal gain will be held accountable.”

American judicial records show several instances of individuals pretending to be attorneys for personal gain. In January, for example, Las Vegas police arrested 36-year-old Cenia Poulson after a six-month investigation that revealed she had posed as an attorney since 2022 and filed numerous fraudulent documents, including divorce files, leading one couple to believe they were divorced when they were still legally married. She also forged several judges’ signatures.

Similar cases can be found internationally, including a remarkable example from Kenya. Brian Mwenda Ntwiga stole the identity of an actual attorney by hacking a Law Society website, uploading his details, and practicing under his name. The Rapid Action Team of the Nairobi Branch of the Law Society of Kenya arrested him after he had handled 26 cases in various courts and won all of them.