Castillo
Medina
GOSHEN – Two people have been indicted in unrelated cases by an Orange County grand jury on charges of felony immigration assistance services fraud.
District Attorney David Hoovler said authorities were able to pursuade victims to come forward, which is not always an easy task when dealing with immigrant members of the community.
“We were able to get these individuals to come forward and convince them that no one is going to be deported, that they have been victims of crimes,” the DA said. “My duty is to prosecute every crime regardless of people’s citizenship and every crime affects everyone in the community and it diminishes everyone’s quality of life.”
Byron Castillo, 36, formerly of Middletown, and Maria Medina, 67, formerly of Wallkill, are also charged with grand larceny and scheme to defraud.
The indictment alleges that Castillo defrauded five recent immigrants from Ecuador by promising them that their relatives could get United States visas, and provided them with false visa documents and plane tickets. Castillo allegedly stole over $3,000 and under $50,000 from at least five victims, and that he selected his victims in whole or in large part because of their national origin. Because of that, he was charged with grand larceny as a hate crime and if convicted, faces up to five to 15 years in state prison. He was indicted on five counts each of grand larceny as a hate crime and immigration assistance services fraud, and one count of scheme to defraud.
Medina was indicted on four counts of grand larceny, scheme to defraud and four counts of immigration assistance services fraud. She allegedly defrauded at least four different recent immigrants from Mexico and Columbia by making false promises concerning her ability to expedite changes to their legal immigration status by providing them with United States residency cards, called “green cards.”
Immigrants who wish to report being the victim of a crime, or who otherwise need assistance in dealing with a criminal case in which they are the victim, or who wishes additional information about the DA’s Immigrant Affairs Initiative may call Counsel to the DA Robert Conflitti, who serves as the Immigrant Affairs Coordinator, at 845-291-2050.
Middletown City Police investigated Castillo’s case while the case against Medina was investigated by the State Police.
