Man Accused Of Altering Passport Expiration Date At Woodbridge DMV Indicted

WOODBRIDGE, VA — A man accused of changing the expiration date on his passport before using it to apply for a Virginia driver's license has been indicted on a federal passport forgery charge.

Court documents show that Arush Gautam was indicted Thursday on one count of forgery or false use of a passport. The charge is a felony.

According to an affidavit filed in the case, Gautam is an Indian citizen who entered the United States in January 2009 on an exchange visitor visa. His visa expired in January 2010, and federal authorities said government travel records showed he did not leave the country after it expired.

Federal investigators said Gautam went to a Prince William County DMV in Woodbridge on May 4, 2021, and presented an Indian passport while applying for a Virginia driver's license.

According to the affidavit, a DMV clerk noticed that the passport's expiration year appeared to have been changed from 2018 to 2028. The clerk confiscated the passport and Gautam's application, court documents show.

Investigators later located a copy of Gautam's original passport that had been submitted in 2019 as part of his son's application for a U.S. passport. After comparing the documents, federal agents determined that the expiration date had been altered by hand.

An arrest warrant was issued Aug. 7 and executed Aug. 10, court records show. Gautam was initially detained, but a judge granted his request for release on bond following a hearing on Aug. 11.

A federal grand jury indicted Gautam on Thursday. He is scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 9 in Alexandria before U.S. District Judge Rossie D. Alston Jr.