A Mexican illegal alien used a dead American baby’s identity for more than 40 years, obtaining a voter registration card and U.S. passport. A jury has now convicted him of passport fraud and aggravated identity theft.
Vidal Blanco-Blas, 62, faces up to 12 years in federal prison after the October 16 verdict, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas announced Wednesday.
Jurors deliberated for about two hours after a three-day trial.
Four decades under a stolen identity
Blanco-Blas entered the United States using the identity of Julio Cesar Torres, a U.S. citizen who died in Mexico at approximately 3 months old, prosecutors said. He also used the stolen identity to obtain a Social Security number and a Texas driver’s license.
The release does not say whether Blanco-Blas voted in any elections.
Witnesses testified that Blanco-Blas presented himself as Torres and instructed his daughter to identify him publicly as her uncle, prosecutors said.
On April 11, 2023, he submitted a passport renewal application in Greenville, Texas. State Department investigators subsequently uncovered his true identity, according to the release.
A federal grand jury indicted him in October 2024.
“Identity fraud of this magnitude endangers national security,” U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in the release.
Prior drug convictions and sentencing
Prosecutors listed three earlier drug convictions under the stolen identity. One carried an 84-month sentence for conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute a controlled substance. Another brought 120 months for marijuana possession. The third carried 21 months for possession with intent to distribute up to 30 kilograms of marijuana.
Blanco-Blas insisted before trial that he was Torres, U.S. District Judge Sam A. Lindsay wrote in an October 15 order. Lindsay barred prosecutors from introducing prior-conviction evidence in their main presentation to the jury. He allowed them to seek reconsideration if developments at trial justified it.
Lindsay will sentence Blanco-Blas on March 22, 2027, according to prosecutors.
In a separate case, Eliseo Morales-Tapia received a 36-month federal sentence in September for identity theft, illegal voting and false citizenship statements, as The Dallas Express reported.
The State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service led the investigation into Blanco-Blas. The Social Security Administration’s Office of Inspector General and the National Passport Center assisted. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Luis A. Suarez and Ashley Koos are prosecuting the case.
