Attorney General Jack Conway and his Office of Special Prosecutions announced the indictments by a Jefferson County Grand Jury of two people in connection with an ongoing investigation into the trafficking and use of identity information unlawfully obtained from United States’ citizens living in Puerto Rico.
Enrique Escalante, 36, of Lexington, and Jose Reyes, 41, of Miami, Fla., were each indicted for complicity to trafficking in stolen identities and complicity to theft of identity, following an investigation by Attorney General Conway’s Department of Criminal Investigations and other agencies. The investigation has taken more than a year and is ongoing. The charges carry a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in prison.
Upon the return of the indictments, the Attorney General sought and obtained from Jefferson Circuit Judge Fred Cowan, the issuance of arrest warrants for Escalante and Reyes. Escalante was taken into custody by agents of the Attorney General’s Office and Lexington Police without incident on the evening of June 16. Reyes was taken into custody Thursday, June 17, in Boone County, with the cooperation of Attorney General investigators, the Boone County Sheriff’s Department, and detectives with the office of Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel.
The indictment and related motions allege that between December of 2009 and March of 2010, Escalante and Reyes, acting alone or with other unnamed accomplices, were involved in a scheme to sell to immigrants, who lacked legal residency, identification documents belonging to Puerto Rican residents. The indictment and motions filed by the attorney general further allege that the documents were then used unlawfully to cause the issuance of official Kentucky identification cards. The Kentucky IDs were allegedly intended to be used for various purposes, including employment.
The defendants will be arraigned on Monday, June 21, in Jefferson Circuit Court, Division 12, at 3 p.m.
Kentucky Insurance and Environmental Matters 
Leave a comment