State Police in Harrisburg said Friday a Mexican citizen in the country illegally stole personal information from a Scranton resident more than a decade ago, and went undetected with a fraudulent ID until this week.

Attorney Corky Goldstein has dealt with cases that involve illegal immigration before, but he believes that shouldn’t be the focus here: he said identity theft and fraud, aren’t unique to one group.

“This could be anybody who might have a record, so they don’t wanna use their name,” said Goldstein.

Rigoberto Manchaca-Martinez told State Police he stole a Scranton man’s birth certificate and social security number in order to land a job; and it seems it worked for nearly two decades.

During that time, in the mid-2000’s, then PA Attorney General, Tom Corbett, put fraudulent PennDOT IDs at the top of his list, convening a statewide grand jury to look into the issue.

Goldstein said that grand jury was formed because the problem was rampant across the Keystone State.

A 2009 grand jury report found PennDOT was putting customer service ahead of security, with thousands of fraudulent IDs believed to have been issued.

Fast forward to now, IDs are a little harder to fake, but Goldstein believes more must be done.

“It’s easy to get that social security number, it’s easy to create that birth certificate – [we need to] get some other documentation that people have to show.”

The answer may come with the PA Real ID, which is harder to get as far as proving your residency.

It’ll be the only PA license accepted to board domestic flights, starting October 1, 2020.

State Police said Manchaca-Martinez did turn over the stolen documents, and has been charged with forgery and theft.

He is next due in court February 5.