Gillette Welder Accused Of Stealing Identity, Leaving Man Owing Child Support

Cowboy State Daily ^ | 6/16/26 | Kolby Fedore

[CFW]

A Minnesota man says he was stunned to learn a stranger spent years building a life in Wyoming allegedly using his name — earning hundreds of thousands of dollars, fathering a child and leaving him to sort out the financial fallout with the IRS and owing child support.

Now, a Gillette welding worker is facing four felony identity theft charges after investigators say he used another man's name and Social Security number to obtain employment and official documents.

Jose Alfredo Guevara-Reyes, 45, made his initial appearance in Campbell County Circuit Court last week after being charged with four counts of unauthorized use of personal identifying information.

According to court documents, the case began June 8 when Gillette police received a handwritten letter from Martin Almendarez of Minneapolis saying that someone working in Gillette had been using his identity.

For Almendarez, the first signs of trouble didn't come from Wyoming law enforcement.

"I learned that the man who stole my identity had fathered a child," Almendarez said.

Because the worker allegedly used Almendarez's Social Security number, the child's mother initially believed Almendarez was the father, he said.

The situation escalated when the state of Wyoming notified him that he was on the hook to financially support the child.

"I got a letter from the state of Wyoming saying that they were going to garnish my wages,” he told Cowboy State Daily.

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TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; US: Wyoming
KEYWORDS: crime; identitytheft; illegalaliens; wyoming

[CFW]

Just one example of how much illegal aliens contribute so to our society.

[LouAvul]

Jose Alfredo Guevara-Reyes. Prolly one of those jorge busho sneaked in behind our backs. Stealing identities Americans won’t steal.

[CFW]

“An affidavit filed in the case by Gillette Police Detective Brendan Trujillo says investigators contacted MC Welding Services after receiving Almendarez’s complaint.

The company provided employment paperwork associated with the worker, including a W-4 tax form, an I-9 employment eligibility form, a Social Security card and a Texas driver’s license bearing Almendarez’s name, the affidavit says.

Police determined the Texas driver’s license number actually belonged to another person in Texas, according to the affidavit.

Investigators then visited MC Welding and spoke with the employee using the documents.

The man then identified himself with a New Mexico driver’s license as Jose Alfredo Guevara-Reyes of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Reyes admitted to obtaining documents from a person in Texas for employment purposes but declined to identify the person.

The detective told Reyes the person who supplied the documents had essentially “set you up for failure,” the affidavit says.”

[snip]

Reyes is being held at the Campbell County Detention Center on a $500,000 cash-only bond. “

[SaveFerris]

(Jose Alfredo Guevara-Reyes, 45)

Just doing the jobs Americans refuse to do!

Wonder when he got in?

[SaveFerris]

(Police determined the Texas driver’s license number
actually belonged to another person in Texas,)

I’m shocked 😲😲🤯😱

NOT

[shotgun]

On the bright side, the thief pumped up the victims SS lifetime earnings which will increase his monthly benefits. /S

[Cowgirl of Justice]

A very sweet lady in my church in Ga told me someone stole her husband’s identity and purchased property. I asked her if they caught the guy and she said they didn’t because he was raising their credit score with the on-time payments!!!!!

[muir_redwoods]

So, what happens to the social security deducted from the perps pay? Does it get credited to the victim? It should

[bert]

Of course, the problem should not even exist. The choice should have been a Lincoln Welder rather than one made by Gillette

[utax]

“On the bright side, the thief pumped up the victims SS lifetime earnings which will increase his monthly benefits. /S”

If libtards get back in power it seems more likely they will try to give SS to identity thieves. All in the name of “fairness”. After all, the theives had no other choice and were just trying to support their families.

[CFW]

“So, what happens to the social security deducted from the perps pay? Does it get credited to the victim? It should.”

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I agree. It would help offset some of the damage caused to the real Mr. Almendarez.

One good thing is that the LEOs and court system seem to be taking the case seriously instead of just releasing the perp to continue stealing identities from Americans.

[MRadtke]

Lol! “If you had ever been the victim of identity theft and your credit rating improved, you might be a redneck”.-J.F, I believe.

[ConservativeMind]

The illegal’s organs should be in other, deserving people.

[Colorado Doug]

Jose Alfredo Guevara-Reyes is clearly a “Wyoming Man”

[Larry Lucido]

Sounds like the Gillette man had a close shave.

(Sorry).

[elpadre]

During the Cold War, some Soviet “sleeper” spies established themselves by stealing identities (maybe all). The only one I have personal knowledge stole the identity of a deceased person from one of the Dakotas.

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Wow, what a nightmare for poor Mr. Almendarez. Imagine getting hit out of the blue with a child support claim and arrest threat!

Back in the early 90s, my secretary had her identity stolen. This was way back before most of us had even HEARD of identity theft. It was a lot harder to steal identity back in those pre-Internet days before all of our lives and accounts were online. We could keep our SS numbers secret on a paper card stored at home or in your safe deposit box and it was illegal to use that number for ID purposes. It took her forever to clean that mess up. The "black desk telephone" era was pretty good.

Here's a stroll down memory lane that led to wide-spread identity theft...

BBSes (bulletin board systems) were hugely popular in the 1980s and early 1990s (CBBS, the WELL, Fidonet)

Gopher was released in 1991 by the University of Minnesota. It was one of the first widely-used internet protocols for searching and retrieving documents, predating the Web's dominance.

Mosaic was released in 1993 by the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA). It was one of the first graphical web browsers and is often credited with bringing the World Wide Web to mainstream users by making it visually accessible and intuitive.

Netscape Navigator was released in 1994 and became the dominant browser of the mid-to-late 1990s. Then they got knocked off by a company in Seattle.

[BipolarBob]

Not everyone will get that. Lol

[Valpal1]

Nope, not how that works. Happened to me, once SS and the IRS sorts it out, you do not get the quarterly credits. But at least I didn’t have to pay their unpaid back taxes.