Thread: Virginia fraud trial has roots in Ohio's ID system

Virginia fraud trial has roots in Ohio's ID system
Saturday, April 18, 2009 7:13 PM
By Mark Ferenchik

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
A trial beginning Monday in Virginia could reveal how vulnerable Ohio's state ID system is to identity fraud.

The federal government is prosecuting a Columbus license-bureau worker who is accused of illegally processing hundreds of ID cards for undocumented immigrants.

Nekeia Mack-Fuller, 31, of Reynoldsburg, was office manager for the Eastside License Agency at 2516 Scarborough Square near Brice Road and I-70.

Authorities say that between 2004 and 2007, Mack-Fuller processed more than 325 Ohio identification-card applications for undocumented immigrants by accepting birth certificates from Puerto Rico and Social Security cards that the applicants had bought from others involved in the fraud.

At the heart of the case, being heard in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg, Va., is whether Mack-Fuller should have known that the documents did not belong to the applicants.

Many of the immigrants were brought from Virginia to Columbus so they could obtain IDs to work in a Cargill food-processing plant in Dayton, Va.

How they knew to travel hundreds of miles to an Ohio deputy registrar's office is unclear. "We'll try to establish how they picked out one agency," said C. Patrick Hogeboom, assistant U.S. attorney for Virginia's western district.

"They found kind of a hole in the way the system works," Hogeboom said.

"The word gets out for sure," said Mack-Fuller's attorney, David Heilberg of Virginia. "How the state is operating the BMVs is certainly an issue.

"Where there's a crack in the system, everything flows through the crack."

However, Heilberg said he will prove that Mack-Fuller did nothing wrong, that she was just doing what she thought was her job.

Mack-Fuller is among eight people who were charged in the case. The other seven, including Michelle Eckerman, who worked at Eastside Licensing as a clerk, have pleaded guilty.

Mack-Fuller is charged with aggravated identity fraud, conspiracy to violate federal immigration laws, conspiracy to commit identity fraud and aiding and abetting.

She is using what is known as a "public authority" defense, arguing that she thought she was acting properly and with her supervisor's approval.

She relied on her boss, Deputy Registrar Jennifer Clemens, and other Ohio BMV officials, believing she was following "the legitimate policies of the Ohio government," according to court documents.

"This defense is almost never used," said Joshua Dressler, a criminal-law expert and professor at Ohio State University's Moritz College of Law. "In a sense, what the argument would be is ignorance of the law."

Clemens is expected to be called as a witness for the prosecution. Last week, she declined to discuss what her testimony would be. Mack-Fuller also declined to talk about her upcoming trial.

"Afterward, I would love to talk," she said.

Deputy registrars are private contractors who bid for state contracts to run license agencies, selling driver's licenses and vehicle tags and providing other services.

The registrars set the pay rates, benefits and working conditions for their offices, all subject to state review, said Lindsay Komlanc, spokeswoman for the Ohio Department of Public Safety.

Hogeboom said the fact that workers aren't highly paid might make them vulnerable.

Mack-Fuller was paid $10 an hour, or $18,720 a year, to work as a 36-hour-a-week office manager, according to state records.

Christina Cheatham, of Columbus, who acted as a broker for immigrants wanting Ohio ID cards, told authorities that Jose Antonio Gutierrez-Ramirez, who worked with her, paid both Mack-Fuller and Eckerman.

Mack-Fuller said in an April 10 court filing that she received "nominal 'tips'" that she reported to Clemens and that there is no proof she substantially benefited financially. Ohio's licensing system is profit-driven. The indictment points out that deputy registrars make money "based upon the volume of services provided."

And because they are private contractors, they compete with other license bureaus in their area.

Eckerman, 28, of Canal Winchester, has pleaded guilty to federal identity-fraud charges and is awaiting sentencing. She processed more than 200 applications for undocumented immigrants.

Cheatham estimated she made as much as $40,000 in 2007 because of the scheme.

mferenchik@dispatch.com

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/lo ... fraud.html?

Ironically! This is why you don't give driver's licenses to illegal aliens. You don't know who they are, or why they want it.

Man arrested in Cranberry on drug charges
Saturday, April 18, 2009
By Daniel Malloy, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

A man from Somalia was arrested in Cranberry on Thursday and charged with smuggling several thousand dollars worth of the leafy African drug khat.

Abdirisak Mohamud, 42, was carrying 13 pounds of khat -- worth between $12,000 and $24,000 on the street -- in boxes from a UPS store, Cranberry police said.

Detectives from Immigration and Customs Enforcement told Cranberry police that a large shipment of the drug would be arriving from Europe.

Khat is a narcotic green vegetable grown in Africa that has a street value comparable to cocaine or heroin. It can be smoked, chewed or brewed in tea. According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the drug can cause manic behavior, hyperactivity and hallucinations and is popular in social settings in East Africa and the Middle East.

Mr. Mohamud, whose U.S. driver's license is from Ohio, is being held in Butler County Prison on $25,000 straight bond.

Daniel Malloy can be reached at dmalloy@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1731.

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/09108/963908-100.stm

When is our government going to get control of our interior immigration problems? More out of control than we think

The irresponsible policy of giving identification to illegal aliens in one state is affecting the lives of citizens in other states.

Dixie

So "We the People" can speak up per state action when it come to ID's, immigrants, and issuance of fake documents for illegal by the different states.

Logically

There HAS to be Federal rule across states that apply to everyone. You cannot have a seat belt rule in one state and not in another. There HAS to be a unified law on basic issues or it doesn't work.

In Nebraska, you could buy a car out of the paper and have 60 or 90days to get a plate. In ND the rules were different than the ones from Iowa. I lived right smack dab between the three. Which one rules? In the majority of the states, who ever is driving a vehicle is charged with a crime....except in some where the owner of the car is.....whether they are driving or not. What is the rule?

You cannot have sanctuary towns or cities or states. You cannot have mixed rules and have them work.


Or maybe you can.....all gays go to California. All illegals to this state. All Christians to this one, Muslims over there. DON'T COME, DRIVE, VACATION THERE unless you agree with them!!!!!! Hows that? Makes the Russian split of America, all that more reasonable and true!!!!

AMEN, cb!

Totally, cb.

Isn't it federal law that states have to require us to wear seatbelts?

But we can protect ourselves from invaders?

Are our elected officials crazy? Who is buying these elected officials?