Man Impersonated Federal Agent In WI: DOJ

WISCONSIN — A 38-year-old man from Utah was convicted of impersonating a federal officer and wire fraud in Wisconsin.

Juan Carlos Martinez-Napoles was sentenced Tuesday to 15 months in federal prison for impersonating a federal officer and wire fraud.

Martinez-Napoles was also ordered to pay restitution to the victims of his crime and to serve two years on supervised release following his prison sentence.

"Fraudulently posing as a USCIS agent, Mr. Martinez-Napoles took advantage of vulnerable individuals, whom he convinced to pay a total of over $45,000 for his "help,'" said U.S. Attorney Gregory Haanstad.

"In reality, he was simply lying to these individuals to line his own pockets. And when a victim questioned his activities, Mr. Martinez-Napoles even threatened to have the victim’s family deported."

Between September 2018 and December 2019, Martinez-Napoles posed as an immigration agent from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and falsely represented to numerous victims that he could assist them in achieving legal status in the United States for a fee, authorities said.

Martinez-Napoles induced three Wisconsin families to pay him approximately $45,000 in exchange for his "services," according to investigators.

He also threatened to have members of one family deported if they did not pay him significant fees, prosecutors said.