Dominican man with no legal status in U.S. pleads guilty to voting twice in South Florida
.jpg)
Carlos Jose Abreu is not a U.S. citizen.
Yet the Dominican Republic native voted not once — but twice — in federal elections in Broward County.
Abreu, 46, pulled off this neat trick by breaking the law, as he pleaded guilty this month to federal charges that he falsely registered as a voter under the stolen name of a man born in Puerto Rico with U.S. citizenship. Abreu admitted voting under that assumed identity in the 2016 and 2022 federal elections, according to prosecutors.
But it’s not clear from court records whether he registered as a Democrat, Republican or No Party Affiliation.
Abreu, who lives in Sunrise, faces a mandatory minimum sentence of two years for stealing the identity of the Puerto Rican. He also faces additional years in prison for passport and voting violations, along with possessing a gun as an undocumented immigrant. His sentencing hearing is set for June 11 before U.S. District David Leibowitz in Fort Lauderdale federal court.
Since his arrest last year, Abreu has been held at the Broward Sheriff’s Office jail.
According to a factual statement filed with his recent guilty plea in court, Abreu is a citizen of the Dominican Republic who entered the United States and assumed the identity of the Puerto Rican, identified as “C.R.V.”, in 2007. From that point until his arrest in August 2024, Abreu used that stolen name in his dealings with local, state and federal agencies. The Puerto Rican man was unaware of the identity theft.
Abreu registered to vote under C.R.V.’s name in Broward County and cast a ballot in the 2016 presidential election, the statement said. He renewed his registration in 2020 to vote in the 2022 midterm election, according to the statement signed by him, his defense lawyer, Wesley Wallace, and prosecutor Brianna Coakley.
Abreu was also charged with being an illegal alien in possession of a firearm when he was arrested by U.S. Marshals Service deputies at his residence in Sunrise on Aug. 21, 2024. He admitted obtaining a Florida concealed carry permit under C.R.V.’s name and purchasing four firearms.
In early January, Abreu also pleaded guilty in Fort Lauderdale federal court to other charges in connection with using C.R.V.’s identity: making false statements on three applications to obtain a U.S. passport for himself and his two daughters on Oct. 2, 2021. The State Department Diplomatic Security Service flagged his passport application for investigation after the agency discovered he had used that same name for a passport application in 2008, records show.
Abreu also obtained Florida and Pennsylvania driver’s licenses in C.R.V.’s name, investigators said. He used the Florida driver’s license in the other person’s name with his photo for the passport applications.
Abreu admitted that he “knew that the personal identifying information did not belong to him,” according to another factual statement filed with his initial guilty plea.
“Those statements on the applications were false,” the document said. “The defendant knew those statements were false.”
Abreu moved from New Jersey to South Florida in 2015, according to a detention order filed in Fort Lauderdale federal court after his arrest in August. Married with two children, he had been working as a quality assurance technician at Blue Stream Fiber in Coral Springs.
Abreu also faces an active warrant out of New Jersey from 2008, when he failed to appear in court on charges of kidnapping, sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child, according to federal authorities.
This story was originally published March 26, 2025 at 12:51 PM.
