Thread: 2 admit role in illegal licenses

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2 admit role in illegal licenses

Man says he got MVC boss's help
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 10/17/06
BY KAREN SUDOL
FREEHOLD BUREAU

FREEHOLD — A New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission supervisor knew exactly which illegal immigrants she was providing driver's licenses for simply by what they were wearing.

During his admission in court about his role in the driver's license ring, 27-year-old Elvis Castro said he told Valerie Materia, second-in-command at the MVC office on Thoreau Drive in Freehold Township, what the immigrants were wearing so she would know to specifically take care of them.

The immigrants paid Castro, the broker, $2,300 each for the fictitiously obtained licenses; he kept $2,000 and gave Materia her $300 share.

Castro pleaded guilty on Monday to conspiring to commit official misconduct and faces a five-year prison sentence. Materia has been offered a similar plea deal and will inform the court next Monday whether she will accept it.

As a result of the plea, Castro, of Sayreville, also faces deportation because he is not a U.S. citizen.

His girlfriend, Yeni Duarte-Quiroa, 25, admitted Monday to driving Castro to obtain money from the buyers and answering some of their questions. The state Attorney General's Office will recommend a probationary sentence for her pleading guilty to attempting to falsify public records.

"Did you know they would get licenses which were fraudulent?" Superior Court Judge Ira E. Kreizman asked Duarte-Quiroa.

"Yes," she answered through an interpreter.

Duarte-Quiroa, also of Sayreville, is a resident alien but possibly faces deportation as well.

Materia, 48, of Jackson, has been suspended without pay following her arrest in August. If she ac-cepts a plea offer next week, she would be required to forfeit her $41,000-a-year job, said Deputy Attorney General Debra Conrad.

Materia and Castro met because he worked as a cook in a pizzeria two doors away from the MVC office.

Castro acted as the broker, selling licenses to illegal immigrants who lacked the paperwork needed to obtain licenses legally. He said in court he sold between five and seven licenses between February and September.

The State Police have said Materia provided at least 15 and as many as 50, with the first changing hands in 2004.

Castro said he knew getting the licenses was fraudulent.

"I was just taking them (the buyers) over to Valerie's, and she was taking care of everything," he said through an interpreter.

Castro's lawyer, Michael Grasso, said Materia approached Castro with the idea. The two found their customers by word of mouth as the driver's license ring grew, authorities have said.

The operation ended in August when Castro took $2,300 from an undercover state trooper in the shopping center's parking lot in exchange for a license.

Grasso said Castro pleaded guilty to the accusation because the state had a compelling case, and "this was the best way to mitigate the consequences."

Duarte-Quiroa's lawyer, John G. Koufos, also said his client, who played a minor role, would be "willing to come forward and accept responsibility for her role in the crime."

Karen Sudol: (732) 462-6509 or ksudol@app.com

Deport those illegals involved and id legals were involved or knew of the scam and kept quiet, they should be arrested. It frightening to know that they are on our roads.