Nipomo Woman Arrested for Forging Hundreds of Immigration Documents, DOJ Says
LOS ANGELES, Calif. – On Friday, the Department of Justice announced that Chantelle Lavergne Woods of Nipomo has been arrested on a federal criminal complaint for allegedly creating hundreds of fraudulent immigration documents.
The 54-year-old is being charged with fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, a felony with a maximum sentence of ten years in federal prison noted the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California in a press release Friday.
Woods was arrested Wednesday and made her initial appearance in U.S. District Court on Thursday where a federal magistrate judger ordered her released on $10,000 bond stated the U.S. Attorney's Office.
She is currently scheduled for an arraignment on her charges on March 25 shared the U.S. Attorney's Office.
According to an affidavit filed on Feb. 18 with the complaint, from February 2021 to April 2024, Woods allegedly created hundreds of fraudulent documents related to medical examination and vaccination requirements for people seeking a lawful permanent resident card - also known as a green card - or trying to make changes to their immigration status while she ran an Arroyo Grande medical clinic.
United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) requires that people applying for changes in their legal status submit medical examination and vaccination records -known as Form I-693- and federal law requires a licensed physician or civil surgeon to perform those evaluations explained the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Woods managed payments for a website advertising the Arroyo Grande location as a "Medical Weight Loss and Immigration Services" clinic that claimed to help applicants with their immigration physicals detailed the U.S. Attorney's Office.
One of the doctors listed on that website as an "M.D. Board Certified Neurologist and Designated Civil Surgeon for USCIS" was actually a pediatrician according to the California Medical Board website.
Woods is also alleged to have forged the signatures of several doctors, including one doctor who was deceased before the documents were prepared, added the U.S. Attorney's Office.
The Drug Enforcement Administration's Ventura Resident Office Tactical Diversion Squad and the USCIS Fraud Detection investigated this matter and Assistant U.S. Attorney Elia Herrera of the International Narcotics, Money Laundering, and Racketeering Section and Mark Aveis of the Major Frauds Section are prosecuting the case stated the U.S. Attorney's Office.
