A Mexican national living in Hall County has been sentenced to more than a year in federal prison after he was convicted of falsely claiming he was a U.S. citizen while applying for a passport.
A release from the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Theodore S. Hertzberg said German Madrigal, age 49 of Jalisco, Mexico, was arrested after trying to use a fraudulently-obtained California birth record while applying for a U.S. passport at a Gainesville post office in December of 2021.
Madrigal's parents had reportedly obtained the record to hide his lack of U.S. citizenship. He had also allegedly used the same document to evade deportation proceedings in 2010.
Madrigal's parents reportedly crossed into the United States, along with him, when he was a year old in 1977. The family then relocated to Hall County in the 1990's.
Madrigal has been found guilty on numerous criminal offenses since moving to Hall County, including pleading guilty to statutory rape charges in 1994 and being sentenced to 10 years in jail on trafficking methamphetamine and marijuana charges in 2007.
"Because Madrigal lied about his foreign citizenship and used a fake birth certificate to try to obtain a U.S. passport, his next trip will be to federal prison," Hertzberg said in a release Wednesday. "Madrigal's sentence sends a message to those who would use fraudulent identity documents to conceal their nationality: you will be caught, prosecuted, and punished."
Madrigal was convicted after a two-day jury trial in late April, 2025. He was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Steve C. Jones to 18 months in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
