06/28/07 - Posted from the Daily Record newsroom

Police say man gave fake papers to MVC officials
Dover resident charged after workers at Randolph office became suspicious

BY MATT MANOCHIO
DAILY RECORD

RANDOLPH -- One illegal immigrant's recent trip to the Motor Vehicle Commission office on Sussex Turnpike resulted in a trip to jail rather than walking away with a new license.

Juan A. Diaz, 40, of Dover, was charged Tuesday with exhibiting false government documents, as well as using the personal identification of another to obtain a license and offering a false instrument for filing, police said Wednesday.

Police also found a $10,000 warrant out of Morris Plains against him, and Diaz was lodged in the Morris County jail in lieu of the warrant's amount along with $25,000 bail from the Randolph charges.

"He is here illegally," Lt. Michael Pisano said Wednesday. "The charges that he got hit with were pretty substantial. That could've justified bail alone without the immigration status coming into it."

Pisano said Diaz is native of El Salvador.

According to police, Diaz had tried to obtain a driver's license by supplying the personal information of another individual, and provided documents that identified him as being from Puerto Rico.

MVC officials became suspicious and began asking questions about Puerto Rico, which he couldn't answer, police said.

Diaz attempted to flee the building, but was restrained by an MVC investigator and other employees until police arrived.

Police said that Diaz was fingerprinted for identification purposes, and his prints came back from an FBI check with his correct name -- which was different from that supplied to MVC and responding police.

When he was confronted about his real identity, he admitted to using false documents -- a birth certificate, student ID and bank statement -- at the MVC office, police said. He stated that he bought the documents off the street in Newark, police said.
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Matt Manochio can be reached at (973) 989-0652 or mmanochi@ gannett.com.

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