Lima Peru, pleaded guilty
BELIZE CITY, Fri. Mar. 28, 2025
A Peruvian businessman — 49-year-old Hernan Alarcon Zamora, of Jiron Renovacion, Lima, Peru — was convicted in the Belize City Magistrate’s Court today for possession of a false document, after being found at the Philip Goldson International Airport (PGIA) with a Mexican voter identification card belonging to a dead man.
On Monday, March 26, 2025, Zamora, a Peruvian of #569 Jiron Renovacion, Lima, Peru, had arrived at the PGIA from Panama City, but while he was being processed, Immigration personnel observed that there was no Belize Immigration stamp in his Peru passport to show that he had exited Belize after his previous visit, which was on June 28, 2024. When Zamora was subsequently searched, he was found to have in his possession a Mexican Instituto Nacional Electoral Credencial Para Votar identification card in the name of Jorge Alexander Rivas Gonzalez. A background check was then carried out with the assistance of Mexican authorities, and it was confirmed that the said ID card belonged to Jorge Gonzalez, whose date of birth is June 6, 1980, and who died on June 15, 1999. As a result, Zamora was taken into custody.
This morning shortly before 11:00, Zamora was escorted by police into Court #6, where he appeared unrepresented before a Senior Magistrate.
In Court #6, before the charge was read to Zamora, the sitting Senior Magistrate asked him if he wanted to be tried summarily or on indictment for the offense of possession of a false document, as he had the right to decide how he would like to be prosecuted on the matter.
Zamora chose to be tried summarily, and so when he was read the charge, he pleaded guilty, since he was asked to make a plea.
After submitting his guilty plea, he immediately apologized to the court, then he said, “I never knew I was bringing it with me.”
Zamora said he never meant to offend the country, and was only asking for forgiveness.
The matter was stood down for a few minutes so the Senior Magistrate could decide on an appropriate sentence to impose upon Zamora.
After the break, the sitting Senior Magistrate informed Zamora that based on the new sentencing guidelines (implemented in January 2025) regarding offenses such as theft, money laundering, possession of false documents, fraud, etc., his offense falls under Category 4 of Criminal Offenses, for which a sentence of 10% of 10 years, which is equivalent to 1 year, is recommended. However, the sitting Senior Magistrate refrained from imposing a custodial sentence after she took into consideration the fact that Zamora is not a Belizean and this was his first offense in the country of Belize. She thus found that a fine was appropriate, and based on the guidance of the Summary Jurisdiction Act, she determined a starting point of $3,000 for the fine.
She then looked at the aggravating factors, and found only one: that it was an offense across borders, and so she added $200 to his fine, thus increasing it to $3,200.00.
Mitigating factors relating to Zamora were that he had no previous convictions, and he was remorseful; hence she deducted $300 from his $3,200 fine, which resulted in a fine of $2,900. However, an additional 33.3% deduction, equivalent to $1,000, was awarded to Zamora for his early guilty plea, resulting in a total fine of $1,900.00, which Zamora had to pay forthwith, or he would have had to serve 8 months in prison.
Zamora paid his fine forthwith, and within minutes after his conviction, walked out of the court a free man.