A San Ysidro man has been sentenced to prison for impersonating an ICE agent to defraud dozens of people
A San Ysidro man was sentenced Thursday to more than five years in prison for posing as an ICE agent to defraud more than a dozen people, most of them undocumented immigrants, of seeking green cards and U.S. citizenship.
Davyd George Brand Jimenez, 55, pleaded guilty in April to 10 counts of impersonating a government official and employee, two counts of mail fraud, two counts of wire fraud, one count of possessing forged identification for U.S. departments and agencies, and one count of aggravated identity theft.
In his plea agreement, he admitted that he deceived and defrauded at least 25 people into paying him at least $152,476.
US District Judge Fernando M. Olguin accepted the recommendations of the prosecution and the defense and ordered that Brand serve 41 months concurrently with the sentence he is currently serving for a drug conviction in the Southern District of California, followed by an additional two years in prison.
During the hearing, Brand, hands clasped behind his prison jumpsuit, said he owed a huge apology to “the people who lost.”
“I apologize to them,” he said.
Brand admitted in his plea agreement that from April 2019 until at least April 2023, in Orange County, he falsely claimed to be an ICE agent and told his victims that he could help them obtain work permits, legal residency and US citizenship. He admitted to charging up to $20,000 per “customer”.
“The defendant’s conduct in impersonating a public official and soliciting payments from victims is outrageous and undermines the federal government by suggesting that public officials can be bribed for services,” said Asst. US Atty. Kevin Y. Fu wrote in his sentencing memo.
Brand would meet his victims in public places — including a park in Santa Ana — and would show a fake ICE badge or gun to existing and present “potential buyers,” according to the plea agreement. Sometimes, he admitted when he applied, he lied about having worked for the DEA, he said he was a lawyer or he said he did work with the US embassy.
After receiving payments from the victims, Brand did not apply for immigration, according to the plea agreement. He admitted to creating immigration documents to provide to the victims, and watermarked them with the Department of Homeland Security.
In one case, Brand admitted to applying for deportation relief for a victim, in which he fraudulently wrote “GRANTED” on the application and named the ICE official who granted the stay. He posted a picture of a fictional residence of the victim’s deportation in 2020.
Brand also admitted to providing the victim with valid US documents, including a Social Security card and passport card, but in a different name, so that they could illegally present that identity and live and work in the US.
In the sentencing letter, Brand’s public defender called him a “motivated and motivated father, husband and son,” but said his childhood was “full of addiction and extreme sexual and physical abuse and neglect, which drove him to use cocaine heavily throughout his life.”
“His untreated addiction and emotional trauma are his biggest obstacles and have played a major role in getting him here,” Hannah A. Bogen wrote in the memo. “Mr. Brand makes no excuses for his actions, and he knows that he has hurt many because of his decisions.”
In a letter to the judge, Brand said he accepts full responsibility and is “deeply remorseful.”
“I spent my whole life running from injuries and brain damage, but I was the cause of it,” Brand said. “It took me a while to write that last sentence, knowing the pain and insurmountable loss I have caused.”
