A Stolen Identity Opened the Door
According to federal prosecutors, Jaramillo Grajales began using another person’s identity more than 20 years ago.
In March 2003, he used the American citizen’s name, birth date and Social Security number to obtain a Florida driver’s license.
That license was not merely issued once and forgotten.
He continued renewing it for roughly two decades, with the most recent renewal occurring in February 2024.
The stolen identity also allowed him to obtain something even more significant: a U.S. passport.
He initially secured a passport in 2003 and subsequently renewed it in 2013 and 2023.
Meanwhile, the same false identity eventually appeared in Florida’s election system.
Jaramillo Grajales registered to vote in Duval County in December 2010. Prosecutors say he later used that registration to cast a ballot in the November 2020 election.
The deception eventually caught up with him.
U.S. District Judge Harvey Schlesinger sentenced Jaramillo Grajales to three years behind bars. He also faces removal to Colombia after completing his prison term.
HSI Jacksonville Assistant Special Agent in Charge Tim Hemker said the prosecution demonstrates the seriousness with which federal investigators view such offenses.
“This conviction demonstrates that identity theft, immigration fraud, and fraud against the integrity of United States government systems will be investigated thoroughly and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Hemker said.
Another Colombian National, Another Stolen Identity
The Florida prosecution becomes even more striking when placed alongside a separate federal case involving remarkably similar allegations.
In Massachusetts, Colombian national Lina Maria Orovio-Hernandez was convicted after prosecutors said she spent more than two decades using the stolen identity of a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico.
Orovio-Hernandez, 60, had reportedly been using the identity since 2004.
Prosecutors said she ultimately voted in Boston during the November 2024 presidential election while pretending to be the American whose identity she had assumed.
She even posed with an “I Voted” sticker on Election Day.
But voting was only one part of the fraud uncovered by investigators.
Authorities said Orovio-Hernandez collected $259,589 in Section 8 housing benefits, another $101,257 in disability payments and $43,348 in food assistance while operating under the stolen identity.
A federal jury convicted her in February 2026.
She was ultimately sentenced to 33 months in prison and ordered to pay $404,194 in restitution.
U.S. Attorney Leah Foley described the conduct in unmistakable terms.
“This was a deliberate, calculated fraud scheme carried out with blatant disregard for American taxpayers and our elections,” Foley said.
HUD Office of Inspector General Special Agent Shawn Rice likewise emphasized the duration and deliberate nature of the scheme.
“Her actions were not a one-time mistake but a calculated and sustained effort to defraud the United States Government,” Rice said.
Election Officials Face Growing Pressure
The cases arrive as the Justice Department increases scrutiny of voter-registration records and presses states over alleged noncitizen registrations.
Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon has claimed federal officials are uncovering substantial irregularities as they examine voter databases around the country.
“We’re finding tens of thousands of noncitizens on the voter rolls, hundreds of thousands of dead people on the voter rolls, and duplicate registrations between states,” Dhillon said.
The department has also pursued other cases involving alleged noncitizen voting, including a Pennsylvania prosecution involving accusations that a noncitizen participated illegally in multiple federal elections.
None of these prosecutions, by themselves, establish how widespread noncitizen voting is nationally. They do, however, demonstrate a particularly challenging vulnerability: identity fraud can make an ineligible person appear legitimate when databases are checking authentic credentials belonging to somebody else.
That distinction matters.
A completely fabricated Social Security number can potentially be rejected. A stolen number belonging to a real American presents a different problem because the underlying credential itself is genuine.
The Florida case illustrates just how far such an identity can travel through government systems.
One stolen identity allegedly survived repeated driver’s-license renewals, three passport issuances or renewals, voter registration and ultimately a presidential-election ballot before investigators brought the scheme to an end.
For voters concerned about election integrity, the most troubling part may not be that Jaramillo Grajales was eventually caught.
It is how long he apparently wasn’t.
