A Mexican citizen with more than 40 aliases who admitted to stealing more than $350,000 in government benefits was sentenced Friday to 37 months in federal prison, equaling one month of custody for every year he lived in the U.S. with a stolen identity.
Federal prosecutors say Tijuana resident Andres Avelino Anduaga, 66, somehow obtained a U.S. citizen’s birth certificate in 1980, and then used that identification to obtain a Social Security number and California driver’s license.
With those documents, Anduaga was able to fraudulently obtain government benefits from federal, state and local agencies, including nearly $250,000 in illicit Social Security benefits, Special Assistant U.S. Atty. Jeffrey D. Hill said.
Anduaga also got Medi-Cal health benefits that he was not eligible for and caused a loss to the state of California in excess of $100,000, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
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