Three Central Valley Residents Appear in Court for Federal Passport Offenses

Other Defendants Charged or Sentenced for Similar Crimes

FRESNO, Calif. — U.S. Attorney Phillip A. Talbert and David Zebley, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. State Department Diplomatic Security Service, announced today the recent prosecution of five separate passport fraud offenses. According to court documents, the defendants possessed United States passports for themselves or for others that were produced without lawful authority. Three of those defendants appeared in court today before U.S. Magistrate Stanley Boone in Fresno.

Docket # 1:17-cr-017

Rafael Antonio Guilarte Rojas, 39, of Bakersfield, was arraigned today. He is charged with possessing an identification document with intent to defraud the United States. He is alleged to have possessed a California driver’s license in a false name when Diplomatic Security Special Agents encountered him on January 5, 2017, while investigating the passport application he submitted in the same false name.

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