Maryland Man Sentenced to Three Years for Passport Fraud and Identity Theft

A Gwynn Oak, Maryland resident has been sentenced to federal prison for a series of identity theft and passport fraud offenses, as announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland. Beautiful Life Allah, also known as Tezelle Miller or Tezell Miller, age 66, received a three-year sentence followed by one year of supervised release. The charges included passport fraud, aggravated identity theft, making false statements, and falsely representing a Social Security number.

The investigation revealed that Allah engaged in fraudulent activities between August 2022 and February 2023. He utilized the Social Security number of another individual to submit a passport application and employed a falsified custody order when attempting to obtain a passport for his minor child. Court documents indicate that Allah had previously obtained a legal passport in August 2020. However, a subsequent arrest warrant issued in Hampton County, Virginia, for an unrelated criminal offense and entered into the National Crime Information Center would likely have led to his apprehension had he attempted to travel with that passport.

In 2022, Allah began using the identity of an incarcerated adult male, identified as Victim 1, from New York. To obtain a driver’s license at the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles, Allah presented fraudulent loan documents, a counterfeit birth certificate, fabricated bank records, and a W-2 statement containing Victim 1’s Social Security number. His fraudulent activities continued into February 2023 when he submitted a U.S. Passport application using Victim 1’s identification but including his own photograph. This application was flagged for fraud indicators by the U.S. Department of State’s Diplomatic Security Service (DSS), initiating an investigation with assistance from the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General (SSA-OIG).

Further investigation uncovered a second fraudulent passport application submitted by Allah, this time in the name of his minor son. This application included a forged New York custody order, which falsely asserted that Allah had full physical and legal custody of the child. However, the child’s biological mother had been granted sole custody.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office highlighted the collaborative efforts of the DSS and SSA-OIG in bringing this case to resolution. The prosecution was handled by a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney. Residents seeking more information on fraud reporting and the priorities of the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office can visit justice.gov/usao-md and justice.gov/usao-md/report-fraud.

Article by Mel Anara, based upon information from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Maryland

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