Yahoo News Forger ran fake ID factory for European crime gangs from his Battersea loft
Rodolfo Napoleon Carpio Gonzalez
(NCA)A prolific forger produced fake passports for criminals across Europe from a factory in the attic of his Battersea home, a court heard.
Rodolfo Napoleon Carpio Gonzalez, 46, is believed to have converted his loft space into an illegal forgery den a decade ago, with space to produce hundreds of bogus documents.
Officers from the National Crime Agency raided his home in a quiet Battersea cul-de-sac in April 2019, discovering printers and boxes of fake passports for French, Belgian, and Portuguese nationals.
Carpio Gonzalez’s fingerprints were on a fake passport of a man suspected of illegally smuggling migrants into the UK, the NCA said.
Following his arrest, his DNA was circulated around European law enforcement agencies, tying him to bogus identity documents being used by a German organised crime syndicate.
The NCA said Carpio Gonzalez’s forgery operation was also supplying documents to immigrants from outside Europe entering the UK illegally and looking to secure homes and jobs.
At Inner London crown court on Tuesday, Carpio Gonzalez was handed a two-year suspended prison sentence, having admitted running the forgery factory last November.
He was ordered to carry out 200 hours of community service, attend 30 days of rehabilitation, and pay £800.
Carpio Gonzalez said his illegal operation had helped to bankroll a gambling habit.
Mark McCormack, Branch Commander for the NCA, said afterwards: “Carpio Gonzalez chose to make his living by producing false identity documents for use by people brought illegally to the UK.
“He aligned himself with the organised criminals who endanger the vulnerable by using illegal and often dangerous methods of entry.
“The NCA works to tackle those who enable serious and organised crime like people smuggling, whether it be those who produce fake identify documents, transportation or financial services. We are determined to disrupt and dismantle people smugglers’ business models at every step.”
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