U.S. Department of Justice
United States Attorney
District of Maryland

Rod J. Rosenstein 36 South Charles Street 410-209-4800
United States Attorney 4th Floor TTY/TDD:410-962-4462
Baltimore, Maryland 21201 410-209-4885
Vickie E. LeDuc FAX 410-962-3091
Public Information Officer Vickie.LeDuc@usdoj.gov

May 18, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT AUSA VICKIE E. LEDUC or http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/md MARCIA MURPHY at (410) 209-4885

RANDALLSTOWN MAN SENTENCED IN FALSE PASSPORT SCHEME

Baltimore, Maryland - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Cashmir Chinedu Luke, of Randallstown, Maryland, today to 27 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for conspiracy to commit identification document fraud and aggravated identity theft, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. At today’s sentencing Judge Motz found that Luke committed perjury during his testimony at trial.

According to the evidence submitted at trial, Luke was born in Nigeria, immigrated to the United States in 1982 and was naturalized in 1984. He obtained a U.S. passport and Virginia driver's license in his birth name Chinedu Cashmire Osuagwu but in 1996, legally changed his name to Cashmir Luke. Trial evidence also established that Luke actively maintained the two separate identities, one in his legal name of Cashmir Luke and the second in his former birth name, for
various purposes.

According to witness testimony, in 2006, while working as a respiratory therapist at a rehabilitation hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, Luke stole the identity of a traumatic brain injury victim. Luke and another individual later applied for a U.S. passport at the Catonsville, Maryland post office in the name of the victim. Discrepancies in the information submitted on the passport application led to an investigation which uncovered the fact that Luke had stolen the identity of the
victim. Law enforcement agents subsequently searched Luke’s residence which led to the discovery of a second fraudulent passport application submitted by Luke, using, without lawful authority, the identity of his estranged son. In fact, Luke appeared at a Philadelphia passport agency office with another man and submitted an affidavit falsely attesting that the applicant was his son.

Additionally, Luke misused the identifying information of his long-deceased daughter and provided that identity to his brother. With the identity, the brother was able to live for several years in the name of Luke’s daughter and was even able to get a passport issued for himself in the daughter’s name.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked the Department of State - Diplomatic Security Service and the Social Security Administration - Office of Inspector General for their investigative work and commended Assistant United States Attorney Sandra Wilkinson and Special Assistant United States Attorney Anthony V. Teelucksingh, who prosecuted the case.