The Salvadoran man who stole the identity of a New York man to live and work in the state of Alaska was sentenced on Tuesday to 29 months in prison by United States District Court Judge Sharon Gleason, U.S. Attorney Karen Loeffler announced today.

Jose Alegria-Garcia, who has been in the United States for over three decades, was arrested in November of 2014 for stealing the identity of a U.S. National living in New York in order to make a false claim of U.S. citizenship. Alegria-Garcia used the victim’s social security number to work and draw unemployment benefits in Alaska.

Alegria-Garcia pled guilty to one count of unlawful use of a social security number, one count of making a false claim of U.S. citizenship and one count of aggravated identity theft in January , 2015.

Judge Geason credited Alegria-Garcia for five months towards the social security and false citizenship charges because of time that he already served since his arrest. Gleason sentenced Alegria-Garcia to a mandatory two-year consecutive term for the aggravated identity theft conviction. Alegria-Garcia was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $5,336 to the State of Alaska Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

Alegria-Garcia’s victim, who resides in New York, said that he found it difficult to obtain social security benefits because government records showed that he was working in Alaska.

Judge Gleason cited the impact on the New Yorker, as well as Alegria-Garcia’s long criminal record that spans thirty years, as reasons for the length of sentence.

The Social Security Administration, Office of the Inspector General; Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Homeland Security Investigations; and the State of Alaska, Department of Labor and Workforce Development investigated the case that led to Alegria-Garcia’s conviction.

  Alaska, alegria, alien, Anchorage, crime, el salvador, garcia, identity theft, jose, new york, social security