Man convicted for stealing identity of U.S. citizen to obtain CDL in Kentucky

A Kentucky jury convicted a man on multiple counts after he fraudulently obtained a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) through identity theft, officials said.

On February 24, 2026, Joel Sanchez-Mendozam, 39, was convicted on several charges following a two-day jury trial in Lexington, Kentucky.

Charges include one count of making a false statement of citizenship to engage in unlawful employment, one count of making a false statement of citizenship to engage to obtain a Kentucky CDL, and two counts of aggravated identity theft.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky, Sanchez-Mendoza was a Mexican national illegally residing in Kentucky.

Officials said that Sanchez-Mendoza “assumed the identity of an American citizen by using their name, date of birth, and social security number. With this information, he was able to obtain employment and a Kentucky CDL.”

Sanchez-Mendoza is scheduled for sentencing on June 25, 2026. He faces a maximum sentence of  48 months in prison.

Homeland Security Investigations and the United States Postal Inspection Service assisted in the investigation.