A 69-year-old man from the Dominican Republic who was living in Boston without legal status has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison for using a stolen identity to collect tens of thousands of dollars in public benefits. Victor Suazo Reynoso was ordered to pay back more than $73,000 combined to Massachusetts benefit programs after admitting he used a U.S. citizen’s name, birthday, and Social Security number to apply for and receive aid he was not entitled to.
Suazo Reynoso was sentenced on September 2 to one year and one day in prison, followed by two years of supervised release, according to The Boston Globe. He had pleaded guilty in May to false representation of a Social Security number and illegal acquisition of SNAP benefits. Prosecutors say he fraudulently obtained more than $70,000 in MassHealth and SNAP benefits by using the stolen identity to apply for aid, and he also used the same stolen name and Social Security number to obtain a Massachusetts driver’s license.
As part of his sentence, Suazo Reynoso was ordered to pay $54,931 in restitution to MassHealth and $18,434 in restitution to the Massachusetts Department of Transitional Assistance, per prosecutors. He is also subject to deportation once he completes his prison sentence, the paper reports.
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