Dominican doctor charged with mutilating the fingerprints of illegal aliens

posted on: Jul 13 2010 10:32 by Royston. Viewed 1097 times.


Two Dominicans and an American were charged last week in a US federal court with conspiracy to conceal illegal aliens from detection through the mutilation or surgical removal of their fingerprints.

U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz and Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Boston said criminal complaints were filed against Jose Elias Zaiter-Pou, 61, and Ricky Dario Baez-Cruz, 29, both of the Dominican Republic, and Luz Martinez-Lebron, 41, of Lynn.

It is alleged that Martinez-Lebron coordinated patients to receive the fingerprint removal procedure performed by Zaiter-Pou, a physician with a clinic in the Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Zaiter-Pou comes to the United States to perform the procedure for $4,500, prosecutors said.

It is alleged that Martinez-Lebron's ex-husband, Baez-Cruz, had the procedure performed by Zaiter-Pou.

The defendants had their initial appearance in court last week, and a detention hearing has been set for today, Tuesday, July 13, at 2 p.m.

If convicted each defendant faces up to 10 years imprisonment, to be followed by three years of supervised release, and a $ 250,000 fine.

The case was investigated by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It is being prosecuted by Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Jerry DeMaio of Ortiz's Major Crimes Unit.