Idaho argues against fraudulent birth certificate
LEWISTON (AP) — State health officials are asking an Idaho judge to revoke a birth certificate issued three years ago, alleging the applicant was a Mexican national who lied to the judge to obtain the document.
Prosecutors alleged Roman Ceniceros-Mora, 60, had been trying since 1989 to obtain a U.S. birth certificate, using several names and birth dates, in an effort to avoid deportation.
The Lewiston Tribune reports that in 2009, Ceniceros-Mora told 2nd District Judge Jeff M. Brudie that his name was Joseph Ann Evans Shippentower, that he was an American Indian born in Lapwai on May 19, 1950, and received a Purple Heart while serving in the U.S. Marine Corps.
The Idaho Health and Welfare Department wants the birth certificate revoked and Shippentower's name removed from the state's vital statistics records.
The Yakima Herald-Republic reports an investigation began when Ceniceros-Mora applied for a passport in Yakima, Wash., in March 2010 using his court-issued birth certificate and officials at the Seattle Passport Agency noticed discrepancies in the application.
Investigators learned the defendant had been convicted of sneaking into the United States or committing other immigration violations throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Court records said he was receiving welfare benefits under the name of Joseph Evans or Joseph Evans Shippentower and even claimed that he was a disabled Marine.
Ceniceros-Mora was born on Aug. 9, 1951, in Mexico, investigators said.
During his welfare fraud trial in Yakima, court records show the defendant's sister identified him as her brother and said they grew up in a small town in Mexico.
He denied knowing her.
Ceniceros-Mora was sentenced in December to eight years in prison for Social Security and food stamp fraud, making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and making a false statement in a passport registration. He was ordered to pay $155,000 in restitution for the federal disability, medical and food aid assistance he fraudulently received.