Danbury Man Pleads Guilty To Identity Theft Offenses

DANBURY, CT — A Danbury man has pleaded guilty to fraud and identity theft offenses stemming from his involvement in a scheme to use stolen identities to lease and purchase vehicles and motorcycles.

Beginning in late 2017, Domingo St. Hilaire Rosario, 57, and two co-conspirators used stolen identities to obtain vehicles and motorcycles at dealerships in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New Jersey, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Connecticut.

As part of the scheme, Rosario arranged for a car or motorcycle to be purchased or leased from a dealership in the name of an identity theft victim, and a co-conspirator impersonated the victim at the dealership to complete the paperwork. Rosario supplied his co-conspirators with fraudulent identification documents bearing the victim’s personal identifying information, and with a fraudulent photo identification that contained the identifying information of the victim and a photograph of a co-conspirator. Rosario intended to sell or export the vehicles.

Rosario and his associates acquired at least 13 vehicles through this scheme, and attempted to acquire at least two more, according to court documents. Some of the vehicles were recovered by law enforcement and returned to the dealers.

In July 2018, Rosario was stopped by the New Jersey State Police driving a Chevrolet Silverado that had been obtained through the fraud from a dealership in Vernon, according to police. He later left the country for the Dominican Republic. On Feb. 28, 2019, a federal grand jury in Hartford returned an indictment charging Rosario. He was extradited from the Dominican Republic in May 2020, and is detained.

Rosario pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, and one count of aggravated identity theft. He has agreed to pay $220,589.19 in restitution, and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 8, 2021.