Ocean Township Man Pleads Guilty To Manufacturing and Illegal Sale False Government Identification

Lucio Medina-Sanchez pleaded guilty last week to the manufacture and sale of false government identification after creating and selling U.S. Permanent Resident and Social Security cards for an undercover officer from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, Acting Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni announced. Medina-Sanchez entered his plea before Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Richard W. English, J.S.C., and is scheduled for sentencing on March 22, 2013.

Medina-Sanchez, 37, of 2137 Aldrin Road in Ocean Township, was charged as part of a joint investigation by the Monmouth Prosecutor’s Office, U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Ocean Township Police Department. The investigation revealed Medina-Sanchez was manufacturing false government identification cards including Social Security cards and U.S. Permanent Resident cards inside his township apartment. Medina-Sanchez required his customers to provide him with a passport-sized photo and a name and birth date of their choosing before creating the fraudulent documents in exchange for payment determined by the type of document he manufactured.

The investigation culminated with members of the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Unit, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and the Ocean Township Police Department conducted a lawful search of Medina-Sanchez’s Aldrin Road address on the morning of Feb. 2, 2012, where computers, laminates, and other materials used to create the false documents were recovered.

Medina-Sanchez pleaded guilty on Jan. 14, 2013 to one count of manufacturing false government identification and two counts of selling false government identification, all second degree charges. Under the terms of the plea agreement, the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office will recommend Medina-Sanchez receive an eight-year prison term.

Acting Prosecutor Gramiccioni would like to thank the Ocean Township Police Department and the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations for their cooperative effort in the investigation.

The case is assigned to Assistant Prosecutor Paul Alexander of the Office’s Narcotics and Criminal Enterprise Unit. Medina-Sanchez is represented by Elizabeth Persinger, Esq., of Freehold.