corruption

who knew.. happens in this country too. Or is it a new thing? am glad the way it's being treated though, and not with a 'shrug' of what can ya do about it? Licenses are indeed a big deal in this country. Can't have that system shaken.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/six_motor_vehicle_commission_c.html

Six clerks for the Motor Vehicle Commission have been charged with conspiring to sell fraudulent licenses to desperate drivers, most frequently to foreigners, who lacked the proper identification, the state Attorney General announced today.

The scheme allegedly occurred at motor vehicle agencies in Lodi, East Orange, Edison, Jersey City and North Bergen, where the clerks are accused of selling 40 illegal licenses for $2,500 to $7,000 each and sharing the proceeds with others who helped arrange the sales.

Attorney General Paula Dow said at a news conference in Newark that the defendants, through a sophisticated system, circumvented the safeguards in place to prevent the distribution of fraudulent licenses.

She said driver’s licenses are considered a "gateway" form of identification for getting items ranging from credit cards to plane tickets.

"We’re talking about a combination of criminal profiteering and public corruption that I think is truly alarming," Dow said. "We know criminals seek black market driver’s licenses to commit identity theft and financial fraud that’s crippling our nation."

The indictments, which were returned in November and unsealed on Monday, charged 40 people in the conspiracy, including the clerks, 21 customers and 13 brokers and other intermediaries, called runners and middlemen, who helped track down customers and collect the cash.

Several other customers pleaded guilty before the indictments were unsealed, Dow said.

Raymond P. Martinez, chief administrator of the state Motor Vehicle Commission, said the six clerks allegedly caught issuing the licenses have been fired.

Despite the indictments, Martinez said the procedures to identify fraud and snag suspects are working.

"When we have employees that abuse their authority, it is a very serious crime indeed," he said.

In the coming weeks, the commission plans to launch a new facial recognition program to analyze the images of 17 million people in the state’s motor vehicle database in an effort to locate duplicates and other anomalies that identify licenses obtained with fraudulent identities.

The authorities said the various rings carrying out the scheme operated largely independent of each other, and were uncovered through the commission’s internal audits as well as through confidential informants, tipsters and investigations by the Attorney General’s Office and the State Police.

In most cases, an operative called a broker filled out a license application or renewal form for the customer, who signed the documents, the authorities said; the broker and the customer then approached a suspected clerk, who would issue the license and falsely note that the customer provided the six points of identification required by law.

The broker would collect payments from the customer and split the proceeds with the clerks, middlemen who sometimes dealt with the clerks and runners who helped line up customers.

The clerks charged were identified as: Laquanda Murray, 28, of Newark, and Rashaan A. Smith, 31, of Irvington, from the East Orange office; Sonia Noel, 48, of Union City and her daughter, Noel, who worked in Jersey City; and Cristian J. Toledo, 33, from the North Bergen office.

In the Lodi office, Anne Marie Manfredonia, 43, of Little Ferry, is accused of taking Social Security numbers from an a motor vehicle database and concocting information that the applicant already had a Florida driver’s license, the Attorney General’s Office said.

The clerks face charges including conspiracy, official misconduct, criminal computer activity, tampering with public records or information and bribery. The most serious charges carry a maximum 10 years in state prison.

In the Edison case, Lorena J. Escobar, 31, a former clerk from South Bound Brook who also used the alias Lorena J. Uruena, pleaded guilty last year to criminal computer activity. The Attorney General’s office said it planned to recommend a three-year prison sentence.

Tracy Whitney wrote:who knew.. happens in this country too. Or is it a new thing? am glad the way it's being treated though, and not with a 'shrug' of what can ya do about it? Licenses are indeed a big deal in this country. Can't have that system shaken.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/six_motor_vehicle_commission_c.html

Six clerks for the Motor Vehicle Commission have been charged with conspiring to sell fraudulent licenses to desperate drivers, most frequently to foreigners, who lacked the proper identification, the state Attorney General announced today.

The clerks face charges including conspiracy, official misconduct, criminal computer activity, tampering with public records or information and bribery. The most serious charges carry a maximum 10 years in state prison.

In the Edison case, Lorena J. Escobar, 31, a former clerk from South Bound Brook who also used the alias Lorena J. Uruena, pleaded guilty last year to criminal computer activity. The Attorney General’s office said it planned to recommend a three-year prison sentence.

What do you expect when a state is run over by Desis, Mafiasis and Messicans?

At least here, these guys are likely to get jail term.That is why, India is advanced in this field.