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RR RUEHAO RUEHCD RUEHGD RUEHGR RUEHHO RUEHMC RUEHNG RUEHNL RUEHRD
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DE RUEHDG #1624/01 3631828
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R 291824Z DEC 09
FM AMEMBASSY SANTO DOMINGO
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0440
INFO WESTERN HEMISPHERIC AFFAIRS DIPL POSTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 SANTO DOMINGO 001624 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
DEPT FOR CA/FPP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: CVIS KFRD ASEC SMIG DR
SUBJECT: ARSO-I Led Team Breaks Up Visa Counterfeiting Ring with 
International Ties 
 
REF: A) BUENOS AIRES 001203; B) SANTO DOMINGO 1606 
 
1)  (SBU)  Summary:  Recent anti-fraud efforts led by the Consular 
ARSO-I have resulted in 11 arrests, confiscation of equipment 
related to visa and other counterfeiting activities, and freezing 
of accounts and other assets of persons involved in the ring.  The 
investigation into the Santiago-based ring benefited from a 
quickly-forged working relationship with local authorities, 
including the Public Prosecutor, who collaborated in the execution 
of various arrest and search warrants.  The investigation is 
ongoing, with several of its principal targets still at large.  End 
Summary. 
 
 
 
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BUENOS AIRES REPORTS, SANTO DOMINGO RESPONDS 
 
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2)  (SBU)  In mid-October, post's Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) 
reviewed information in ref A, describing how at least ten 
Dominican nationals carrying fraudulent visas in legitimate 
passports had tried to travel to the United States from Argentina's 
Ezeiza International Airport.  Embassy Buenos Aires furthermore 
provided our FPU and ARSO-I with detailed information on the mala 
fide travelers.  Most of the travelers arrived in Buenos Aires on 
the same flight and attempted to board US-bound flights a few days 
later. Consular Consolidated Database (CCD) checks showed that the 
visa foils had been issued originally in Lima then washed and 
reprinted somewhere else.  The facts matched similar reports from 
DHS/CBP of Dominican nationals intercepted in Lima with laundered 
visas, as well as local interdictions in which washed Lima-issued 
foils were fraudulently reprinted to match persons using genuine 
Dominican documents. 
 
 
 
3)  (SBU)  Previous investigations by our ARSO-I had revealed that 
that a visa counterfeiting ring was operating somewhere in the 
Santiago area.  ARSO-I verified through GODR Immigration records 
that several of the mala fide travelers interdicted in Argentina 
had returned from Buenos Aires to their homes in the Dominican 
Republic.  Tracing local addresses here, the ARSO-I, accompanied by 
the National Police (PN) officer assigned to the ARSO-I, and an FPU 
investigator traveled to the Santiago area on 14 DEC 2009.  The 
first mala fide traveler identified for investigation resided in 
nearby Mao and the ARSO-I led team quickly forged a solid 
relationship with the prosecutors' office in that city.  The 
embassy team obtained arrest and search warrants for the subject 
and went to his house, where police arrested him.  The arrestee 
quickly identified the source of his counterfeit U.S. visa as 
Wilfredo Antonio Reynoso Minier (Reynoso) and said that his 
passport containing the counterfeit visa was in the counterfeiter's 
house.  The subject's subsequent criminal complaint against Reynoso 
served as the basis for the local prosecutor to issue arrest and 
search warrants against Reynoso and his property. 
 
 
 
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ALL THE DOCUMENTS FIT TO PRINT - VISAS, CURRENCY, CAR TITLES 
 
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4)  (SBU)  The search of Reynoso's house revealed significant 
evidence of his visa counterfeiting activities as well as evidence 
that he was also counterfeiting US currency and falsifying titles 
for stolen vehicles.  Police found twenty US visas in various 
stages of being washed and converted into counterfeits.  Ten of the 
eleven that were as yet unaltered and still attached to pages torn 
from their original passports had been issued in Peru.  Also 
confiscated in the raid: an improvised pressure press; a US one 
dollar bill awash in a chemical bath with the ink approximately 
three-quarters faded away; a black light; two digital cameras; two 
computers; two printers; a fraudulent US Legal Permanent Resident 
(LPR) card; various ownership documents related to stolen vehicles; 
and a Peruvian passport #4210810 in the name of Armando Cesar Koo 
Escalante (Koo). 
 
SANTO DOMI 00001624  002 OF 003 
 
 
5)  (SBU)  Under questioning, family and other persons associated 
with Reynoso disclosed that a Peruvian citizen who had entered the 
country on October 26 was the actual forger of the documents, and 
Reynoso was their broker.  From GODR Immigration records we learned 
that Koo Escalante has traveled to the Dominican Republic on 
various occasions, and his most recent entry was indeed October 26, 
¶2009.  The preliminary conclusion - that Koo Escalante is the 
forger, and he had been staying at the broker's house and working 
out of a guest bedroom since his arrival - was also confirmed by 
Reynoso's wife. 
 
 
 
6)  (SBU)  Police here have charged Reynoso and Koo with organizing 
illegal travel, counterfeiting US visas, counterfeiting US 
currency, counterfeiting "cedulas" (local identity document) and 
falsifying vehicle licensing and sales documents.  Both men remain 
at large despite an extensive manhunt, surveillance of their known 
associates and military checkpoints of all routes out of the 
region.  Local law enforcement lookouts have been placed on the 
subjects and immigration holds are in place to prohibit their 
departure from the country.  In addition, Reynoso's bank assets 
have been frozen and other property seized.  Other documents 
indicate that Reynoso has used a second identity and possesses a 
cedula issued in the name of Robert Frias Paulino.  (GODR 
authorities have issued lookouts, holds and seizures under this 
identity as well.) 
 
 
 
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ELEVEN ASSOCIATES ARRESTED SO FAR, AND EVIDENCE MOUNTS FOR MORE 
ARRESTS 
 
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7)  (SBU)  The bust of the Reynoso-Koo operation has led to the 
arrest of 11 individuals to date, even as its two namesakes remain 
at large.  Those arrested include the original mala fide traveler, 
various members of Reynoso's family who refused to cooperate with 
local authorities, and other persons associated with and/or 
supporting the counterfeiting network.   Reynoso's sister 
apparently served as title-holder for assets including bank 
accounts, buildings, properties, and vehicles.  Reynoso's wife 
attached her name to various fraudulent documents surrounding 
vehicle purchases and land titles.   Reynoso's girlfriend provided 
storage space for a significant number of vehicle licenses and 
title documents since discovered by police.  The girlfriend had 
also accompanied Reynoso on a trip to Lima.  All of the eleven 
arrests were at the direction of local prosecutors. 
 
 
 
8)  (SBU)  Interestingly, one of the Reynoso/Koo associates, 
Wilfredo Eloy Lopez Rosa (Lopez), was known to our FPU as a visa 
fixer, prominent enough, in fact, to have been pictured and 
identified on our "Buscones" poster (see ref B).  Based on 
information tying him to this case, police executed arrest and 
search warrants for his home in Jamao al Norte on 23 DEC 2009. 
Five hours elapsed between the time of Lopez's arrest and the time 
these warrants could be processed, and when the ARSO-I and police 
search team arrived at Lopez's residence, they found that the house 
had been ransacked.  One day later, back in the town of Mao, the 
jurisdictional judge imposed an extraordinary preventive custody 
order of one year's detention against Lopez, pending further 
investigation.  Previous ARSO-I cases have seen holding periods 
never in excess of three months.  While investigation is still 
ongoing, it is apparent that Lopez played an integral part in the 
counterfeiting and trafficking persons ring operated by Reynoso. 
 
 
 
9)  (SBU)  While the embassy team was leading investigations in and 
around Mao, GODR Immigration stopped a passenger attempting to 
board a US-bound flight from Santiago using a counterfeit visa. 
The subject identified Persio Antonio Sanchez Almanzar (Sanchez) as 
the source of his counterfeit visa leading authorities to issue 
arrest and search warrants.  In Sanchez's Santiago apartment 
authorities confiscated nine Dominican passports with counterfeit 
US visas along with various other documents and cash.  FPU assisted 
 
SANTO DOMI 00001624  003 OF 003 
 
 
GODR Immigration in confirming that the visas were counterfeit. 
The visas fit the pattern of foils originally issued in Peru, 
washed, reprinted by counterfeiters, and placed in genuine 
Dominican passports.  Sanchez reportedly admitted to distributing 
the fake documents, but claimed that the forgeries were done in 
Peru and then returned to the Dominican Republic. 
 
 
 
10)  (SBU)  We have ample reason to expect that our ARSO-I 
investigation will reveal additional suspects and scams.  Remaining 
to be analyzed are two computer hard drives from Reynoso's home 
which the local prosecutor released to our embassy team on 22 DEC 
¶2009.  The team then FedExed the hard drives to Washington, to the 
Computer Investigation and Forensics (DS/ICI/CIS) lab for analysis. 
The hard drives will be returned to the prosecutor as soon as 
analysis is complete and may still be presented in the cases 
against Reynoso, Koo and/or others.  We anticipate that information 
from the hard drives will provide details into the network's 
operations and new leads for investigation both locally and 
internationally.  Although both Reynoso and Koo are still at large, 
we hope that their eventual arrest and questioning will provide 
additional information about the international connections involved 
in this counterfeiting ring.  ARSO-I continues to coordinate 
investigation with local officials and will remain in contact with 
colleagues in USG offices in Argentina and Peru throughout. 
 
 
 
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ONCE AGAIN, THE VALUE OF TEAMWORK 
 
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11)  (SBU)  Comment: Local authorities, particularly the public 
prosecutor's office in Mao, were extremely cooperative.  The 
embassy team was also supported by the local police as well as 
infantry soldiers under the authority of the Army General 
commanding the regional brigade.  The embassy team, led by the 
ARSO-I and including an FPU Investigator and our vetted national 
police officer, was particularly well suited to develop local 
contacts and facilitate cooperation among the different parties 
involved in the operation.  The ongoing investigation once again 
demonstrates the effectiveness of a well-coordinated team from FPU, 
DS and local authorities. 
 
 
 
LAMBERT 
Lambert