A Dominican man without legal status accused of falsely registering to vote in Broward
A man from the Dominican Republic without U.S. legal status registered to vote in Broward County to cast a ballot in the 2022 midterm elections in Florida, according to new federal charges.
He’s also accused of stealing someone’s identity to apply for a U.S. passport.
His real name is Carlos Jose Abreu, who’s also wanted in New Jersey on previous criminal charges, including kidnapping and sexual assault.
On Thursday, Abreu was charged with making a false statement as a U.S. citizen when he registered to vote on Sept. 29, 2020, with the Broward Supervisor of Elections Office, according to a second indictment. He was also charged with providing false information about his name to Broward officials on Nov. 6, 2022, “for the purpose of establishing his eligibility to vote” in the midterm elections for state and federal offices, including for Florida governor and U.S. senator.
Abreu, an undocumented immigrant, was also charged with being an 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. Since his arrest, Abreu has been held at the Broward Sheriff’s Office jail.
Abreu, represented by the federal public defender’s office, is scheduled to have his first appearance on Monday in Fort Lauderdale federal court on the new charges.
In early January, Abreu pleaded guilty in Fort Lauderdale federal court to making false statements on three applications to obtain a U.S. passport for himself and his two daughters on Oct. 2, 2021, according to his plea to an indictment. He still faces trial in March on a charge of stealing the name, birth date and Social Security of another person identified as “C.R.V.” that he used on his three passport applications, court records show.
C.R.V. is a real person and a U.S. citizen born in Puerto Rico, according to the State Department Diplomatic Security Service, which 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, they said.
In his recent plea, Abreu admitted that he “knew that the personal identifying information did not belong to him.”
“Those statements on the applications were false,” Abreu said in a factual proffer filed by federal prosecutor Brianna Coakley. “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 January 31, 2025 at 11:30 AM.
