Texan gets 3 years for ID fraud

A Texas man federal prosecutors say was the mastermind behind the fraudulent documents dealt to workers at a Hyrum meat-packing plant was not much of a mastermind at all, according to his defense attorney.

Eleuterio Gutierrez, 49, appeared in U.S. District Court Wednesday to be sentenced on counts of selling citizenship papers and identification fraud.

Prosecutors say that Gutierrez, who was arrested in El Paso, Texas, worked with Veronica Carrillo of Utah to deal citizenship documents to workers at the Swift & Co. plant, which was raided by federal agents last December as part of a series of raids conducted at Swift plans across the country. About 158 people were arrested at the Utah plant with 1,297 arrested overall.

Carrillo told federal agents that she overheard Gutierrez "brag" about dealing over 300 documents, in exchange for money. Attorney for Gutierrez, Sharon Preston, argued that the government only has evidence that her client dealt in about three documents. Preston also pointed to a report that showed her client was barely competent to face the charges in court and that he was borderline mentally retarded.

U.S. District Judge Paul Cassell noted that Carrillo told agents that Gutierrez was her only source for the documents, so logic would serve that Gutierrez's involvement was more than he indicated. However, giving consideration to Gutierrez's mental capacity, Cassell said he was willing to lower his sentence from 57 months and imposed 36 months and a day.

"I did something wrong, that's all," Gutierrez said through a Spanish interpreter. A U.S. citizen, Preston said her client was the product of being raised in extreme poverty and extreme abuse.

The prosecution pointed out that the document dealing did require a level of sophistication and questioned Gutierrez's mental impairment.

Earlier this month Carrillo was sentenced to 36 months in federal prison for her role in the scheme.

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