CEDAR RAPIDS – A Mexican woman who aided and abetted her husband in absconding from justice in Nebraska and assumed a new identity in Iowa was sentenced on February 14, 2018, to three months in federal prison.
Rosa Nevarez-Fallad, age 60, a citizen of Mexico and lawful permanent resident of the United States residing in Fremont, Nebraska, received the prison term after a September 28, 2017, guilty plea to one count of unlawful use of an identification document.
At the guilty plea, Nevarez-Fallad admitted she used a Social Security card knowing that the card was forged or unlawfully obtained. In 2016, Nevarez-Fallad’s husband, Fernando Nevarez-Carreon, faked a heart attack and fled Nebraska to avoid sentencing in federal court for conspiracy to distribute counterfeit documents and aggravated identity theft. In July 2016, Nevarez-Fallad and Nevarez-Carreon both completed employment paperwork in Farley, Iowa, to obtain jobs under false names and used identification cards bearing the names and Social Security Numbers of United States citizens. Nevarez-Carreon avoided apprehension by law enforcement until March 2017, when he was arrested at his place of employment in Farley. Nevarez-Carreon was sentenced to more than six years in prison in the United States District Court for the District of Nebraska in June 2017 and is awaiting sentencing in the Northern District of Iowa for one count of unlawful use of an identification document.
Nevarez-Fallad was sentenced in Cedar Rapids by United States District Court Judge Linda R. Reade. Nevarez-Fallad was sentenced to three months’ imprisonment. She must also serve a three-year term of supervised release after the prison term. There is no parole in the federal system.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Daniel C. Tvedt and investigated by the Social Security Administration, Office of Inspector General, and the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations.