A Mexican national in Kansas City admitted in federal court that he helped stage armed robberies so illegal immigrants could falsely claim victim status and obtain U-Visas, part of a scheme that federal investigators tied to dozens of incidents and a wide-reaching fraud network.
On Jan. 30, 2025, Oscar Gutierrez, 36, of Kansas City, Mo., a citizen of Mexico, was charged in a sealed federal complaint in the U.S. District Court in Kansas City, Mo. The complaint was unsealed after his arrest and initial appearance, and on Feb. 6, 2025, a grand jury returned an indictment naming Gutierrez and co-defendant Jose Luis Morales Salgado on conspiracy charges tied to fraudulent immigration visas.
Gutierrez pleaded guilty on March 31, 2026, admitting he conspired to fraudulently obtain immigration visas for aliens by participating in staged armed robberies. Salgado had pled guilty earlier on March 23, 2026, and acknowledged recruiting people to act as robbers and directing them where and when to strike.
The scheme was straightforward and brutal in its planning: immigrants paid thousands of dollars to Salgado to be set up as victims, with Salgado providing the date, time, and location of the fake robberies. Participants were coached to tell police a violent crime had occurred so they could support U-Visa applications that require a bona fide victim of qualifying criminal activity.
Salgado described how the staged attacks were carried out: victims were told to claim they had car trouble, pull over, and step out to inspect their vehicle. Another car would then pull up, a person wearing a medical mask would brandish a firearm, strike the supposed victim in the head or face, take cash, and typically fire two rounds into the vehicle to make the scene look real.
Investigators initially identified 11 incidents that matched the pattern, and NIBIN, the National Integrated Ballistics Information Network, linked cartridge case markings across crime scenes, suggesting one firearm was used in multiple robberies. Detectives also used city cameras and license plate readers to trace vehicles tied to the crimes, work that ultimately pointed them to Gutierrez.
Court filings say a source told investigators the total number of purported victims in the fraud was well over 100, and authorities identified 11 robberies involving 33 purported victims between Dec. 29, 2021, and July 13, 2024. Of those 33 immigrants, 18 submitted U-Visa applications falsely claiming to be victims of violent crimes.
An undercover federal agent and a law enforcement source met Salgado on Jan. 22, 2025, and recorded the meeting, arranging to pay $4,000 for a staged robbery to obtain a U-Visa. Salgado told the undercover agent he would “put on a grand show,” accepted a $500 partial payment, and was arrested when he met the undercover again on Jan. 30, 2025.
Gutierrez admitted in his plea that he took part in multiple fake robberies to support fraudulent U-Visa filings, and Salgado admitted directing the false reports to law enforcement to strengthen those applications. The federal complaint, indictment, and plea hearings make clear this was deliberate fraud tied to immigration benefits rather than genuine victimization.
The statutory background is important: the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act was created to help legitimate victims cooperate with law enforcement, and a foreign national is eligible for a U-Visa only if he or she “was the victim of qualifying criminal activity, suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of having been a victim of the criminal activity, possessed information about the criminal activity, and was likely to be helpful to law enforcement in the investigation or prosecution of the crime.”
This prosecution was brought by Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Alford and investigated by the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, and Homeland Security Investigations. This case is part of Operation Take Back America, a nationwide initiative that marshals the full resources of the Department of Justice to repel the invasion of illegal immigration, achieve the total elimination of cartels and transnational criminal organizations, and protect our communities from the perpetrators of violent crime.
