Dead American Passport Fraud Ring Busted

(San Jose, California) With 300,000,000 citizens in the U.S., one must wonder how much additional fraud such as this goes on.

In the largest investigation ever of its kind, federal authorities Tuesday announced the arrests of more than 100 people who are suspected of fraudulently applying for and obtaining U.S. passports using birth certificates of dead Americans.

Between July 2005 and August 2008, 112 individuals across the country were charged with federal passport fraud and related offenses, according to the U.S. State Department. The individuals charged include fugitives, military deserters, delinquent taxpayers, parolees, convicted felons, habitual drunken drivers and undocumented workers from more than 20 countries, all of whom wanted passports to hide from law enforcement, according to authorities.

Dubbed "Operation Deathmatch," the investigation was a joint effort by the U.S. Department of Diplomatic Security's San Francisco and Los Angeles Field Offices and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Sacramento Field Office. Senior security service officials from both agencies, who did not want to reveal their names, said investigators merged California's death record database, going back to 1940, with passport requests.

Hopefully, and I'm looking into the future, law enforcers can put a crimp in the practice of having dead people cast votes. If illegal aliens can easily get passports of dead people, just imagine what a breeze it is to vote as a dead person.