New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A Ghanaian national was sentenced Friday, April 26 in federal court in Worcester for illegal possession of identification documents and aggravated identity theft.
Yaw Okyere, a/k/a Stephen Okyere Buda, 38, a citizen of Ghana residing in Worcester, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Timothy S. Hillman to two years in prison. Upon completion of his sentence, Okyere will be subject to deportation proceedings. In January 2018, Okyere pleaded guilty to possession of five or more false identification documents and aggravated identity theft. Okyere was arrested and charged by criminal complaint in March 2018.
On March 7, 2018, federal agents executed a search warrant at Okyere’s apartment in Worcester, where they seized computers and a printer. An initial forensic review of one of the computers revealed files containing more than 180 Massachusetts driver’s licenses with various names and photographs.
During the execution of the search warrant, agents interviewed Okyere, who stated that he was a citizen of Ghana, had arrived in the United States a few years earlier on a visa, that he had overstayed his visa, and was unsure of his immigration status.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Joseph W. Cronin, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service; and Worcester Police Chief Steven M. Sargent made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth G. Shine of Lelling’s Major Crimes Unit prosecuted the case.
