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Fla. Man Arrested With 1,021 Stolen Puerto Rican Birth Certificates

Certificates Taken From Bureau of Vital Statistics

POSTED: 5:55 p.m. EDT September 18, 2003
UPDATED: 11:57 a.m. EDT October 5, 2003

FBI agents in Central Florida arrested a 26-year-old man in possession of more than 1,000 blank birth certificates reported stolen in Puerto Rico, according to Local 6 News.

Jose M. Aponte, 26, was arrested Thursday in Ocala, Fla., on federal charges after authorities said he attempted to sell 1,021 blank birth certificates to FBI agents.

The blank certificates, which could have been used for identity theft, fraud or obtain a U.S. passport, were stolen from the Bureau of Vital Statistics in Dorado, Puerto Rico.

Aponte will remain in custody until a detention hearing in Ocala on Wednesday.

Special agent Douglas Astralago said the arrest was part of an ongoing investigation.

William Falls, special agent in charge of the FBI office in Jacksonville, declined to comment on the facts of the investigation.

Puerto Rico is a U.S. commonwealth and its people are U.S. citizens. A foreigner who fraudulently obtained a Puerto Rican birth certificate could get a U.S. passport.

Watch Local 6 News for more on this story.

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