A Gwynn Oak, Maryland man has been sentenced to three years in federal prison for crimes related to passport fraud and aggravated identity theft. U.S. District Judge Brendan A. Hurson handed down the sentence to Beautiful Life Allah, also known as “Tezelle Miller” and “Tezell Miller,” age 66. In addition to his prison term, Allah will serve one year of supervised release.
According to court documents, Allah used another person’s social security number to submit a passport application and provided a fraudulent custody order when applying for a passport for his minor child. He also made false statements on multiple passport applications between August 2022 and February 2023.
In August 2020, Allah obtained a legal passport after submitting an application. After receiving the passport, he was charged with an unrelated criminal offense in Hampton County, Virginia, resulting in a warrant for his arrest that was listed in the National Crime Information Center database.
Beginning in 2022, Allah started using the identity of an adult male incarcerated in New York. In August of that year, he used fraudulent documents containing the victim’s social security number to apply for a driver’s license at the Maryland Department of Motor Vehicles. The following February, he submitted another fraudulent U.S. Passport application using the victim’s name and included his own photograph. The Diplomatic Security Service (DSS) flagged this application due to signs of fraud and began investigating with assistance from the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG).
The investigation revealed that Allah had also submitted a second fraudulent passport application on behalf of his minor son by including a fake New York custody order claiming full physical and legal custody; however, authorities determined that the child’s biological mother actually had sole custody.
U.S. Attorney Kelly O. Hayes commended DSS and SSA-OIG for their work on the case. “Ms. Hayes also thanked Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Kertisha Dixon who prosecuted the case.”
Further information about the Maryland U.S. Attorney’s Office is available at justice.gov/usao-md and community outreach resources can be found at justice.gov/usao-md/community-outreach.
