Mohave Daily News: Local

KINGMAN - A Bullhead City woman was convicted in Superior Court Wednesday of 63 of the 66 felony counts of identity theft she had been charged.

Alicia Pacheco Vasquez, 47, had been charged with 31 counts of trafficking in the identity of another, 31 counts of taking the identity of another, three counts of aggravated taking the identity of another and one count of fraudulent schemes and artifices.

In a rare bench trial, where a defendant waives their right to a jury trial, Judge Steven Conn convicted Vasquez on 30 counts of trafficking in the identity of another, 30 counts of taking the identity of another and three counts of aggravated taking the identity of another.

Vasquez was convicted of selling Social Security cards and Mexican identification papers to an undercover officer at her Bullhead City gift shop and at a Jose Drive address between Aug. 17 and Dec. 2, 2005.

Conn acquitted her of one count each of trafficking in the identity of another and taking the identity of another and on the fraudulent schemes and artifices charge, Deputy Mohave County Attorney William Carroll said.

The one count of trafficking in the identity of another and one count of taking the identity of another that she was acquitted of was when the undercover detective sought to buy documents for himself.

Conn ruled that the undercover officer had given her consent to create false documents for himself for a California driver's license and other documents even though he was using a false name. Conn also ruled that the fraud charge did not apply in this case, Carroll said.

The other 30 counts each for trafficking in the identity of another and taking the identity of another involved 30 fictitious names that the undercover officer used to buy documents for illegal immigrants to allow them to work in the country.

Conn is expected to sentence Vasquez April 27. She can receive from five years to several hundred years in prison depending if the sentences are to run consecutive or concurrent to each other, Carroll said.

Vasquez's Phoenix attorney, Jose Montano, in his opening comments, had argued that since the names his client was charged with creating documents for were fictitious names, there was a question of whether the victims consented to her using their identity since there were no actual victims.

The Latino undercover detective from the Arizona Department of Public Safety testified how he first bought a California driver's license and a visa for himself from Vasquez on Aug. 10, 2005, using his own photo but using a fake name.

When he picked up the documents a week later he asked her for three more sets of documents, consisting of Social Security cards and Mexican identification papers, to allow the illegal immigrants to work in the country. Later, the detective asked for other sets of documents, which he picked up in the following months.