State and federal agents bust fake IDs racket

A special ID printer, phony holograms from China and lots of workers who need credentials, and voilà, you’ve got a lucrative fake IDs business.

Those are the elements that state and federal investigators alleged against Michael Kruise Williams, 30, of Mamaroneck, and Pedro “Pesos” Vasquez, 28, of the Bronx, in a criminal complaint unsealed in U.S. District Court, White Plains that describes a scheme to make and sell phony OSHA safety cards, drivers licenses, Social Security cards and birth certificates.

Williams was arrested Jan. 20 and accused of conspiracy to commit fraud, production of false identification documents, bank fraud and identity theft. Vasquez was arrested Jan. 24 and accused of conspiracy to commit fraud.

The alleged conspiracy began to unravel in March 2019 at the Javits Center expansion project in Manhattan. A private risk monitoring firm discovered that a construction worker had presented a fake Occupational Safety and Health Administration certification for taking a required safety course. It looked real, according to the criminal complaint, but the serial number did not match OSHA’s database.

The firm notified the state Office of Inspector General, and investigators established that the worker had bought the card from Vasquez and paid him via Cash App.

An Inspector General undercover investigator set up a buy, met Vasquez in the Bronx and paid $150 for a phony OSHA card, according to the complaint. In the following months, the investigator bought more OSHA cards, Social Security cards and drivers licenses for several states.

Vasquez advertised fake IDs for sale on Facebook, according to the complaint. His Cash App account showed numerous transactions for ID cards as well as $61,000 in payments to a Square financial services account registered to “Graphic Expert.”

Investigators linked Vasquez to Williams.

In July 2020, U.S. Customs officers at JFK Airport seized a parcel that contained laminates with holograms that resembled drivers licenses for Connecticut, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Florida.

The package was addressed to Wolfpac Technologies at a private mailbox in a tax consulting business in the Woodlawn Heights section of the Bronx.

U.S. Homeland Security agents linked Wolfpac to Williams. Last February, agents for Homeland Security, the state Inspector General, and the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey searched Williams’ residence in Mamaroneck and his office in Norwalk, Connecticut.

They found an ID printer, the complaint states, 3,000 blank ID cards, 11 packages of laminate sleeves, three fake Social Security cards, more than 100 fake ID cards, dozens of fake OSHA cards and a passport in the name of another individual.

They also found credit cards in the name of a retired teacher from Whitestone, Queens, whose identity had been stolen, according to the complaint. Williams had intercepted checks sent to a utility company located a few hundred feet from his residence, the complaint states, endorsed the checks in the retired teacher’s name, and deposited them into his own bank account.

Both men were released from custody, Williams on a $100,000 bond and Vasquez on a $75,000 bond. Their attorneys, Michael Braverman and Ben Gold, declined to discuss the charges.