Transnational ID Theft and Counterfeiting—Kodjovi Haden

Kodjovi “Marshall” Haden, a native of Togo, Africa, has been sentenced to 132 months in prison, and ordered to pay US$292,400 in restitution after being convicted in December on a 12-count indictment alleging counterfeiting and identity theft.^[1] During the trial, evidence was introduced that Mr. Haden “was the organizer of a conspiracy to manufacture, possess and utter counterfeit securities, specifically counterfeit $100 VISA travelers’ checks, counterfeit bank cashier's checks (including one for more than $1,000,000 which was found in a FedEx envelope that was addressed to a bank in Malta), and counterfeit U.S. Treasury checks.”^[2] Mr. Haden was shown to have “manufactured the checks on his personal computer, procured IDs to be used by the check passers he recruited, provided advice to the check passers on how to avoid security and detection and then kept half of the proceeds for himself.”^[3]

The investigation began in 2004 when two of the counterfeit check passers “were chased out of a grocery store in Greenville, Texas, by an alert manager” who then contacted the police.^[4] One of the individuals agreed to cooperate with the investigation, and in April 2005, agents of the U.S. Secret Service [hereinafter USSS] conducted surveillance of a controlled delivery of 30 counterfeit travelers' checks by Haden to the cooperating co-defendant.^[5] “Two days later, USSS executed search warrants at Haden’s apartment, vehicles and storage area which led to the discovery and seizure of compelling evidence that Haden was manufacturing counterfeit checks and altering Texas ID cards. Haden was arrested at that time and has been in custody since then. At the time of his arrest, Haden was in possession of five Texas driver’s licenses and ID cards which had been issued to other persons, providing the basis for the aggravated identity theft charge against him.”^[6]

Aggravated identity theft is covered by 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, which states that a person who commits any of a list of felonies while knowingly transferring, possessing, or using a means of identification of another person, will be sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 2 years in addition to the sentence for the underlying felony. The enumerated felonies include:

• theft of public money, property, or rewards
• false personation of citizenship
• false statements in connection with the acquisition of a firearm
• fraud and false statements
• mail, bank, and wire fraud
• passports and visas acquisition
• obtaining customer information by false pretenses
• willfully failing to leave the United States after deportation and creating a counterfeit alien registration card
• various immigration offenses, or
• false statements relating to programs under the Social Security Act.

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[1] US Attorneys Office, Dallas Man Sentenced to 11 Years in Federal Prison Without Parole Following Counterfeiting and Identity Theft Conviction, Mar. 9, 2006.
[2] Id.
[3] Id.
[4] Id.
[5] Id.
[6] Id.