A Colombian woman who lived illegally in the United States, lived under a stolen identity for more than two decades, wrongly received more than $ 400,000 in stolen federal benefits and voted illegally in the presidential elections of 2024, said federal public prosecutors on Thursday.
Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez, 59, also obtained well-being benefits, a real ID and eight other state IDs, the Ministry of Justice said.
Orovio-Hernandez is said to have used the stolen identity to submit a fraudulent voter registration in January 2023 and to issue a vote in last year’s presidential elections, said public prosecutors.
She was captured on a surveillance camera at a bank with a “I voted” sticker on November 5, 2024, election day, according to judicial documents.
It is accused of false representation of a Sofin number; Make a false statement in an application for a passport of the United States; aggravated identity theft; receiving stolen government money or property; fraudulent voter registration; And fraudulent votes.
Orovio-Hernandez has been held in federal detention since February when she was accused of identity theft and other violations.
Authorities said that Orovio-Hernandez wrongly received $ 400,000 in federal benefits: $ 259,589 in section 8 benefits for rental aid from October 2011 to January 2025; $ 101,257 in the disability of social security from July 2014 to January; and $ 43,348 in additional benefits of additional food aid or Snap, from April 2005 to January.
“For more than 20 years, this suspect would have built up a lifetime on the basis of a stolen identity – including illegal voices in our presidential elections and collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in government benefits intended for Americans in need,” said American lawyer Leah B. Foly.
“The right to vote is one of the many privileges to be an American citizen. The government is intended by the government for people in need as safety nets for those who live in our country legally – do not support illegal alien without a right to be here.”
She also applied for an American passport and claimed to be an American citizen born in Puerto Rico, the authorities said.
Orovio-Hernandez was not entitled to one of the benefits she received, Foley said, referring to her illegal presence in the US.
“Stealing a person’s identity to obtain illegal benefits for social security is not only theft-it is a long-term abuse of a system that is intended to support the real in need,” said Amy Connelly, the special agent responsible for the Social Security Administration (SSA), Office of the Inspector General in the Boston-Newew.
