Monday, March 25, 2013 | 4:53 p.m.
Two illegal immigrants from Mexico convicted of producing what investigators called “high quality” counterfeit documents will serve multiple years in prison, officials announced Monday.
Jose Navarro-Parra, 38, and his business partner, Libia Bustillos-Gonzaelz, 30, were sentenced Friday in Clark County District Court to serve between two and five years in prison. Afterward, they will be placed in deportation proceedings.
The pair pleaded guilty in January to charges of establishing and possessing a financial forgery laboratory, officials said.
Authorities from Homeland Security Investigations and Metro Police executed search warrants at their respective residences last year and recovered document counterfeiting equipment and supplies. They were arrested in March 2012.
The investigation revealed the pair was operating a large-scale counterfeit document mill and selling phony cards at Las Vegas swap meets, officials said. They produced “green cards,” Social Security cards as well as driver’s licenses for multiple states.
Packets containing a bogus “green card” and Social Security card cost $100. They charged an additional $180 for a phony driver’s license.
Investigators seized computers, printers, laminating machines, card stock and $18,000 in cash while executing the search warrants.
“These sentences should serves as a sobering warning for anyone involved in the counterfeit document trade,” Michael Harris, assistant special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations Las Vegas, said in a statement.
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