Federal authorities are looking for a San Ysidro man wanted for allegedly impersonating a U.S. immigration officer in order to defraud undocumented immigrants who hoped to adjust their status.
Davyd George Brand Jimenez, 52, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana on Wednesday and is facing 25 counts ranging from impersonating a federal officer to mail fraud.
“Brand Jimenez tricked and defrauded at least 25 vulnerable Hispanic customer victims into paying him a total of more than $200,000, even though those customer victims were of modest means,” the indictment says.
According to the indictment, Brand Jimenez pretended to be an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and showed a fake badge to his victims beginning around April 2019 and continuing through April of this year. The filing says that he told undocumented immigrants that he could get work permits, green cards and even U.S. citizenship for them if they paid him.
The indictment says he told some of his victims that the police cars ing the park where he met them in Santa Ana were there to protect him. Sometimes, it says, he had a gun with him.
In some cases, the indictment says, he provided falsified paperwork to his victims, including a fabricated stay of deportation order. In others, he allegedly provided stolen ID cards belonging to either a green card holder or U.S. citizen.
Brand Jimenez has never worked for ICE, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
A request for comment sent to an email address believed to belong to Brand Jimenez went unanswered.
According to the indictment, Brand Jimenez was previously sentenced to 18 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to felony charges involving illegally possessing two FBI badges, two U.S. Border Patrol badges, and Department of Homeland Security identification cards with his photograph. He also pleaded guilty in 2022 to conspiracy to distribute more than 15 kilograms of cocaine.
Brand Jimenez is considered a fugitive after failing to appear for sentencing in the narcotics case in San Diego, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.
