DAUPHIN COUNTY, Pa. — PennDOT and the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) worked together to catch a woman who had allegedly been using a stolen identity since 2014.
The organizations caught the discrepancy when Mirna Ruiz Hernandez, 38, of Harrisburg, applied for a Pennsylvania photo identification card using her own information.
Police say Hernandez used a Florida woman's details to apply for and receive an ID at a Chambersburg Driver and Photo License Center in 2014. To establish her identity, she allegedly provided a Puerto Rican birth certificate, social security card, affidavit of residency from a witness PA OLN and a piece of mail that all bore the victim's name and information.
The suspect then allegedly signed the application, which warns against misrepresenting facts, and had her photo taken for the ID card. She was issued an ID bearing her photo and the victim's information.
Police say the application and supporting documents were submitted to PennDOT as an official government record.
The accused maintained the false identity for eight years, through an arrest and an ID renewal, PSP said.
Through the investigation, State Police determined that Hernandez is a citizen of Mexico who remained in the U.S. without immigrant authorization until October 2021, when withholding of removal was granted.
Upon receiving authorization to work in the U.S. in September 2022, Hernandez applied for a photo ID using her own information. Upon completing the paperwork with her actual identity, police say she checked the box that states "I have never held a PA driver's license/permit or identification card and I am applying for an initial identification card." She then allegedly signed the form, which contains another warning against falsifying information.
This application was also submitted to PennDOT as an official government record.
A criminal complaint states that facial recognition software identified Hernandez's two photo IDs as potentially being the same person. Police say that they conducted an interview with the suspect in which they showed her a lineup of three photos from all of the ID cards she possessed, and she identified all of the photos as being her own, including the ones from the fraudulent cards.
Hernandez admitted to using identifying documents with the victim's name to apply for her first ID card, PSP said.
Court documents show that police charged her with identity theft, violations concerning licenses - exh. false ID, tampering with records or ID-writing, tampering with public record/information and statement under penalty.
