(File Photo of a Gavel)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Pittsburgh, PA) The U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Pennsylvania announced on Friday that a man illegally residing in Pittsburgh has been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges including fraud and misuse of visas, permits, and other documents, as well as aggravated identity theft. The six-count indictment names the sole defendant as forty-four-year-old Mahmoud Almasry, also known as Mohammad Jiham. According to the indictment, Almasry fraudulently entered the United States in 2016 by assuming another person’s identity and continued using that identity for nearly a decade. Prosecutors allege he relied on multiple forms of identification belonging to that individual, who was already deceased at the time Almasry assumed the identity to gain entry into the country. Almasry faces a maximum possible sentence of up to 25 years in prison, a fine of up to $250,000, or both if he is convicted.