Illegal Alien and Aerospace Manufacturer Employee Arrested on Indictment Charging Her with Fraud, False Claims of U.S. Citizenship
LOS ANGELES / Friday, September 18, 2026 – A Mexican national who decades ago was ordered removed from the United States was arrested today on an eight-count federal grand jury indictment charging her with securing her employment at a South Bay aerospace manufacturer and U.S. military contractor by lying on an employment authorization form that she was a U.S. citizen and by submitting someone else’s legitimate certificate of naturalization number.
Alma Patricia Contreras Villafana, 54, of South Los Angeles, is expected to make her initial appearance and be arraigned on Monday in U.S. District Court in downtown Los Angeles.
Villafana is charged with five counts of wire fraud, one count of use of a false and forged certificate of naturalization, one count of aggravated identity theft, and one count of false claim to United States citizenship.
According to an indictment that a federal grand jury returned on Wednesday, in December 1996, Villafana secured employment at a Torrance-based business identified in court documents as “Company-2,” in part, by attesting on her Form I-9 that she was a U.S. citizen. A Form I-9 is used by U.S. employers to verify the identity and employment authorization of new employees.
In fact, Villafana is an illegal alien from Mexico who in 2003 was ordered by an immigration judge to be removed from the United States.
In January 2026, Villafana again knowingly submitted a Form I-9 falsely attesting under penalty of perjury that she was a U.S. citizen to maintain her employment at a business identified in court documents as “Company-1.”. As part of the Form I-9, she also knowingly provided a certificate of naturalization number that belonged to another person.
From December 1996 to September 2026, Villafana obtained at least $1,402,459 in payment for her employment at Company-2 and Company-1, included by direct deposit wired to her bank account.
An indictment is merely an allegation. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
If convicted, Villafana would face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison for each wire fraud count, a statutory maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison for the use of a false and forged certificate of naturalization count, up to three years in federal prison for falsely claiming to have U.S. citizenship, and a mandatory two-year consecutive prison sentence for aggravated identity theft.
Homeland Security Investigations is investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorney Kyle W. Kahan of the General Crimes Section is prosecuting this case.
Contact
Ciaran McEvoy
Public Information Officer
ciaran.mcevoy@usdoj.gov
(213) 894-4465
Source: U.S. Attorney's Office, Central District of California
