Jury indicts 12 in alleged fake ID scheme

HATTIESBURG — A federal grand jury has issued a second indictment for 12 people charged in an alleged scheme to make fake Social Security cards, driver’s licenses and state identification cards for illegal immigrants.

Court records detailed a sophisticated operation in which names and pictures were allegedly sent by cell phones and then used for fake documents. Most of the defendants are illegal immigrants.

A hearing was scheduled for Nov. 16 in Hattiesburg.

Prosecutors say the group operated in Hattiesburg and Laurel. Laurel was the site of the nation’s largest workplace raid on illegal immigrants when nearly 600 workers were detained at a factory there in 2008.

Authorities say the group in the current case is not connected to those who faced similar charges after the raid on Howard Industries in Laurel.