Enrrique Ricardo Diaz Vazquez, a 60-year-old Mexican national residing in Arizona, has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Phoenix for passport and visa fraud. The charges stem from allegations that Vazquez assumed the identity of a deceased United States citizen, Gene Edward Katzorke, more than four decades ago to obtain official documents.
The criminal complaint reveals that the individual using Katzorke's identity first received a U.S. passport in 1986 with an Arizona driver's license and U.S. birth certificate as documentation. Over the following years, he filed several passport renewal applications using the previously issued passport to verify his identity. In 2022, Katzorke's passport application was flagged for investigation due to the discovery of an obituary from the 1960s announcing the death of Gene Edward Katzorke.
The United States Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) agents discovered that Katzorke had died in 1966 at the age of two. They linked his name in criminal databases to Enrrique Ricardo Diaz Vazquez, confirming his Mexican nationality.
Diaz Vazquez, while posing as Katzorke, arrived at the Western Passport Center on March 7, 2025, for an appointment regarding a passport application. After acknowledging his attempt to renew a passport under the Katzorke name, he was arrested for the fraudulent activity.
During the post-arrest interview, Diaz Vazquez admitted his true identity as Enrrique Ricardo Diaz Vazquez and that he was born in Guadalajara, Mexico. He also confessed to choosing the Katzorke name from a cemetery visit with the hope of joining the U.S. military. Although he succeeded in enlisting under this alias, he fled to Mexico after facing charges for a homicide involving a nine-month-old child in Tucson, Arizona. Believed to be a U.S. citizen, he was later deported from Mexico to the United States, continuing to live under the assumed identity.
Passport and Visa Fraud can result in a maximum penalty of ten years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000. It's important to note that an indictment is merely a charge of criminal activity and does not imply guilt. Individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
This case was investigated by the Diplomatic Security Service's Tucson Resident Office and the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, with Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Sydney Yew from the District of Arizona, Phoenix, handling the prosecution.