WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A federal judge will let Kansas correct the birth certificates of two children of an illegal immigrant living in Topeka who stole the identity of a Texas teacher.
Benita Cardona-Gonzalez was sentenced this week to 18 months in prison for assuming the identity of Candida Gutierrez, a schoolteacher in Houston.
As part of the crime, Cardona-Gonzalez even filled in the other woman’s name as the mother on the birth certificates of her two U.S.-born children.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Eric Melgren granted a request by the Kansas Office of Vital Statistics to change the certificates to show Cardona-Gonzalez as the children’s mother.
Cardona-Gonzalez, who is from Mexico, used the Texas woman’s identity to get a job, a driver’s license, a mortgage and medical care for her children.
