Federal judge rules against former Decorah man in Social Security fraud case

Chief Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of Iowa has upheld the validity of a sentencing report created in the case of a former Decorah resident who has pleaded guilty to one count of using a false Social Security number.

26-year-old Jose Guadelupe Machorro-Xochicale had been indicted on two criminal charges in 2015, but remained at large until this June, when he was picked up by members of a U.S. Marshals Service Task Force.

On August 11th he appeared in court in Cedar Rapids and entered a guilty plea to one of the two counts.  Machorro-Xochicale later filed an appeal of a magistrate judge's report on the case, but Judge Reade upheld the admissibility of the magistrate judge's report.

That means Machorro-Xochicale faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced at a later date.