Defendants Allegedly Targeted Child Online, Lured Her to United States and Filed Fraudulent Sponsorship Application to Gain Custody
An indictment was unsealed today in the Northern District of Georgia charging two Honduran nationals with smuggling an unaccompanied alien child (UAC) into the United States using a stolen identity and then submitting a fraudulent sponsorship application to gain custody of the child. The defendants were residing illegally in the United States at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
“This indictment alleges a disturbing scheme where two individuals who were in this country illegally lured a young girl to the United States, gave her a false identity and tried to fraudulently gain custody of her through the Office of Refugee Resettlement,” said Assistant Attorney General A. Tysen Duva of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Government programs designed to afford protection cannot become tools for exploitation – especially of children. The Criminal Division and Joint Task Force Alpha will find those who deceive the government to gain access to vulnerable children and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law.”
“Through coordinated lies and deception, two illegal aliens smuggled a child into our country to facilitate the exploitation of a 15-year-old child by a 30-year-old man,” said U.S. Attorney Theodore S. Hertzberg for the Northern District of Georgia. “As a result of unwavering law enforcement dedication, the child has been removed from a predatory situation, and the deceitful duo who trafficked her will be held accountable for their crimes.”
“Defrauding a program designed to protect vulnerable children and attempting to manipulate the sponsorship process is a serious crime that will not be tolerated,” said Acting Deputy Inspector General for Investigations Scott J. Lampert of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General (HHS-OIG). “These programs are intended to ensure the safety and well-being of children in need and must never be misused for personal gain. Working with our law enforcement partners, HHS-OIG will aggressively pursue those who undermine these protections and bring them to justice.”
According to court documents, Luis Adolfo Mendoza Fonseca, 30, of Raleigh, North Carolina, allegedly met the UAC – a then-15-year-old Nicaraguan girl – online in the spring of 2024 and began a romantic relationship with her. Mendoza Fonseca then encouraged and paid for the child to leave her home in Nicaragua and travel to the United States using the identity of another minor, a purported Honduran national. Rosmery Yamibel Castillo Fonseca, 25, of Lawrenceville, Georgia, coached the child to tell immigration authorities that Castillo Fonseca was her cousin. After the UAC crossed into the United States at the Texas border, Castillo Fonseca submitted a sponsorship application to the Department of Health and Human Services (HSS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), falsely claiming the child was her Honduran cousin. Both Mendoza Fonseca and Castillo Fonseca ultimately admitted to staff of an HHS-funded care provider that the UAC was not the person identified in the sponsorship application, and that Mendoza Fonseca had a romantic online relationship with the UAC.
Mendoza Fonseca and Castillo Fonseca are charged with one count of conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States, one count of aiding and abetting the encouragement and inducement of an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, and one count of aiding and abetting making a false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement. If convicted, they face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for conspiracy to encourage and induce an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States, a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for aiding and abetting the encouragement and inducement of an alien to come to, enter, and reside in the United States for the purpose of commercial advantage and private financial gain, and a maximum penalty of five years in prison for making a false statement.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and HHS-OIG are investigating the case. HSI’s Center for Countering Human Trafficking in Washington, D.C., and ORR provided valuable assistance.
Joint Task Force Alpha (JTFA) Trial Attorney Aaron Jennen and Assistant U.S. Attorney Leanne Marek for the Northern District of Georgia are prosecuting the case.
The investigation and charges are supported and prosecuted by JTFA, the Department’s lead effort in combating high-impact human smuggling and trafficking committed by cartels and Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs). A highly successful partnership between the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), JTFA investigates and prosecutes human smuggling and trafficking and related immigration crimes that impact public safety and border security. JTFA’s mission is to target the leaders and organizers of Cartels and TCOs involved in human smuggling and trafficking throughout the Americas. The Attorney General has elevated and expanded JTFA to target the most prolific and dangerous human smuggling and trafficking groups operating not only in Mexico and the Northern Triangle countries of Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, but also in Canada, the Caribbean, and the maritime border, and elsewhere. Led by the Criminal Division’s Human Rights and Special Prosecutions Section and supported by the Money Laundering, Narcotics and Forfeiture Section, the Office of International Affairs, and the Office of Enforcement Operations, among others, JTFA has dedicated Assistant United States Attorney-detailees from the Southern District of California; District of Arizona; District of New Mexico; Western and Southern Districts of Texas; Southern District of Florida; Northern District of New York; and District of Vermont. JTFA also partners with other USAOs throughout the country and supports high-priority cases in any district. All JTFA cases rely on substantial law enforcement resources from DHS, including ICE/HSI and CBP/BP and OFO, as well as FBI and other law enforcement agencies. To date, JTFA’s work has resulted in more than 440 domestic and international arrests of leaders, organizers, and significant facilitators of alien smuggling and/or trafficking; more than 390 U.S. convictions; more than 330 significant jail sentences imposed, and forfeitures of substantial assets.
This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and other transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime. Operation Take Back America streamlines efforts and resources from the Department’s Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Forces and Project Safe Neighborhoods.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.