The chief counsel at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Seattle has resigned after being charged with allegedly stealing identities from seven people involved in immigration proceedings.
The attorney, Raphael Sanchez, is facing one count each of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft according to court documents filed on Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, reports CNN.
Prosecutors claim Sanchez used the immigrants' identities to obtain both money and property between October 2013 and October 2017.
BuzzFeed News, citing documents filed in the case, reports Sanchez used personal information to defraud several institutions, including American Express, Bank of America, Capital One, Citibank, Discover, and JPMorgan Chase.
He is also accused of using his official ICE email address to forward one person's personal information, including a U.S. residence card, a copy of a Chinese passport, and an energy bill.
According to a Department of Justice official, Sanchez resigned on Monday, the day the indictment against him was filed, reports BuzzFeed.
CNN, which contacted the ICE Western region office for comment, was told to refer questions to the DOJ.
Sanchez' attorney, Cassandra Stamm, said she is not commenting until after her client appears in court on Thursday.
BuzzFeed reports that according to the complaint, the case against Sanchez was brought by the DOJ's Public Integrity Section in Washington, DC, a division overseeing corruption cases involving public officials.