A 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela was arrested in Perrysburg, Ohio after allegedly using fraudulent documents to attend a public high school.
Court records show Anthony Emmanuel Labrador Sierra, 24, was charged with forgery and he was held on a $50,000 margin. Perrysburg Police Department said on Monday, Perrysburg local schools contacted Perrysburg local schools for fraud involving one of the students.
After a preliminary investigation, a fraud case was established and handed over to detectives in the department for further investigation.
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Anthony Labrador Sierra, a 24-year-old illegal immigrant from Venezuela, is accused of using fake documents to enroll in a 16-year-old high school in Ohio, aged 17. (Wood County Jail)
Detectives worked with U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. immigration and customs enforcement to discover that Labrador is 24 years old in Venezuela.
Investigators also learned that Labrador Sierra used fraudulent documents to recruit Perrysburg schools and pretended to be a 16-year-old student.
Labrador Sierra was admitted on January 11, 2024 as a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor and at the Perrysburg High School and, in accordance with federal and state requirements, calls for the recruitment of homeless students to recruit homeless people.
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Perrysburg police arrested Anthony Labrador Sierra, 24, who allegedly falsified documents to attend high school in Ohio. (iStock)
Between January 11, 2024 and May 14, 2025, the school said Labrador Sierra received documentation and support to complicate the situation. For example, he obtained a state-issued driver's license, social security number and temporary protection status (TPS) from U.S. immigrants.
The school also said Labrador completed his visa application with the help of advocacy opportunities, which provided free legal aid.
Wood County Juvenile Court granted Labrador Serra's custody to the Perrysburg family.
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U.S. immigration and customs law enforcement officers detained immigrants. (Getty Image)
School officials said the guardian contacted the school on May 14 to report that the information they received indicated that Labrador Sierra was not a minor, but a 24-year-old man.
Labrador Sierra reportedly denied the allegation when she met him on May 15.
“Given the severity of the claim, the Perrysburg School immediately directed the guardian to keep Labrador away from school property while further investigating the matter,” the school said. “The case involves a highly unusual and deceptive environment for many local, state and federal agencies.”
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"The district has reviewed actions on enrolment and is confident that we can follow appropriate legal channels to support ourselves as an unaccompanied minor, as stated in the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act," the district added. "We thank our close partnership with the Perrysburg Police Department and the swift action taken."
The school also updated the statement, saying Labrador Sierra was a former member of the junior soccer and swimming team, adding that the situation had been reported to the Ohio High School Athletic Association.
Labrador Sierra was eventually detained Tuesday afternoon at a traffic stop on Interstate 75.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) told Fox News that they found Labrador Sierra's information in different spellings of his name. They added that Labrador Sierra, the visa commander, first came to the United States in 2019. DHS also confirmed that Labrador has received TPS.
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Labrador was held in the Wood County Jail on a $50,000 margin. He plans to appear in court on May 29.