A Central Falls woman who spent nearly two decades living, working and collecting benefits under a family member's stolen identity has been sentenced to two years of probation and ordered to repay more than $54,000. Marilyn Vazquez, 57, learned her fate in federal court Thursday after pleading guilty earlier this year to false representation of a Social Security number, health care fraud and wire fraud.
U.S. District Court Chief Judge John J. McConnell Jr. handed down the sentence, which included $54,713.98 in restitution, according to WJAR. The station reports that Vazquez had previously pleaded guilty to the three federal charges before Thursday's sentencing.
The scheme traced back to the mid-2000s, when Vazquez used a family member's identity to obtain a Rhode Island driver's license, per the station's report. From there, prosecutors say she used that identity for employment and to receive public benefits, a pattern that stretched on for nearly two decades before catching up with her.
A Nearly Two-Decade Deception Unravels
The U.S. Attorney's Office of Rhode Island announced that the Central Falls woman was sentenced in federal court Thursday for using a stolen identity for close to twenty years.
It is also unclear from the case details whether Vazquez will face any supervision conditions beyond the two years of probation she received. What is established is the financial toll: she must pay back $54,713.98, a figure tied directly to the benefits and wages obtained under the assumed identity.
Part of a Broader Pattern in Rhode Island
Vazquez's case is not the only identity and benefits-fraud prosecution to surface in Rhode Island recently. In June, Balni Pimentel Lara, 59, of Providence, was charged by indictment with false representation of a Social Security number, aggravated identity theft, wire fraud and health care fraud as part of a national fraud takedown, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island.
Separately, federal officials said a defendant identified as Matos Perez used the stolen identities of two American citizens, including their dates of birth and Social Security numbers, to obtain roughly $75,000 in combined Medicaid, SNAP and unemployment benefits over about ten years, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General. In another case, court documents describe a defendant named Arias Amador applying for Medicaid and SNAP benefits using a U.S. citizen's identity and Social Security number, per the Justice Department.
Rhode Island federal prosecutors have also pursued other unrelated identity fraud cases. In one prior matter, a Rhode Island woman was sentenced to federal prison for falsely masquerading as a decorated U.S. Marine and fraudulently collecting more than $250,000 in veteran benefits and charitable contributions, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island.
For Vazquez, the Thursday sentencing closes out a case built on a single borrowed identity that quietly powered two decades of daily life in Central Falls — from a driver's license obtained in the mid-2000s to the jobs and benefits that followed, as detailed in WJAR's reporting.
