A 41-year-old Gainesville man is facing a 20-count federal indictment after authorities say he sold counterfeit Social Security cards bearing real victims' identities for $750 apiece and was later found with a semi-automatic pistol during a search of his home. Derly Alvarez-Rodriguez was arrested on August 5, 2026, when he arrived to complete a sale for two additional cards, and he has remained in federal custody ever since.
According to FOX 5 Atlanta, the counterfeit cards contained Social Security numbers belonging to real people, and investigators seized four additional fake cards during the arrest. A federal grand jury indicted Alvarez-Rodriguez on seven counts of production of false identification documents, three counts of transfer of false identification documents, seven counts of Social Security fraud, one count of possession of a firearm by an illegal alien, and two counts of aggravated identity theft added on September 9, 2026.
Federal prosecutors say the case traces back to a series of undercover buys. U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg stated that undercover transactions with Alvarez-Rodriguez occurred between March and May 2026, during which the defendant allegedly sold three counterfeit Social Security cards for $750 each before sending the agent matching birth dates for the stolen identities, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General was also involved in the investigation.
Gun Charge Tied to Immigration Status
FOX 5 Atlanta described Alvarez-Rodriguez as undocumented and located in Gainesville. Investigators found a semi-automatic pistol while searching his home, and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General confirmed all seized cards were counterfeit, the station's report notes.
The firearm count stems from 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(5), as amended by the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act of 2022, which makes it a federal crime for an undocumented immigrant to possess a firearm, carrying a maximum penalty of up to 15 years in federal prison, per CaseMine. Separately, federal document fraud law under 18 U.S.C. § 1028(b)(1) penalizes the production or transfer of counterfeit U.S. identification documents, including Social Security cards, with up to 15 years in prison per count, according to the Justice Department.
Mandatory Minimums Stack Up
The two aggravated identity theft counts carry particular weight. Under 18 U.S.C. § 1028A, a conviction for aggravated identity theft carries a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in federal prison that must be served consecutively to any term imposed for the underlying fraud charges, according to the U.S. House Office of the Law Revision Counsel.
A federal judge has granted an emergency motion to detain Alvarez-Rodriguez as a flight risk, and he is being held without bond in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. No trial date has been scheduled, and authorities have not disclosed the total number of identity theft victims impacted by the scheme, per the same account from FOX 5 Atlanta.
Case Filed in Gainesville's Federal Court
The case was filed in federal court in Gainesville, according to the Justice Department. The case adds to a string of identity theft and financial fraud prosecutions the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Georgia has announced this month, including the extradition of a Russian web developer charged in a bank takeover scheme, as Hoodline previously reported.
Identity theft remains a concern in Georgia. Nationally, the FTC logged more than 1.3 million identity theft reports in 2025, with total reported consumer fraud losses surpassing $15.8 billion. The matching birth dates were sent to the undercover agent, while the total number of identity theft victims remains unknown, according to FOX 5 Atlanta.
