Thread: Former Oakland DMV worker pleads guilty

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Oakland DMV employees charged in license, ID card scam
- Henry K. Lee, Chronicle Staff Writer
Thursday, August 18, 2005


(08-1 10:58 PDT Oakland (SF Chronicle) -- A federal grand jury has indicted five more people in a scheme in which employees of the state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Oakland accepted bribes to provide licenses and identification cards to illegal immigrants, court records show.

The grand jury returned indictments against the Oakland residents Aug. 11, charging them with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and other crimes stemming from a scam in which DMV employees received as much as $4,500 for each document and issued more than 200 fraudulent licenses and identification cards, authorities said.

The charges, the latest in a series of many such cases involving DMV employees in California and elsewhere around the country, follow a 20-month investigation in which agents followed employees, checked one suspect's trash and surveilled the busy Oakland DMV office at 5300 Claremont Ave. -- where the four DMV employees accused in the scam worked.

Two DMV employees indicted this month are Stephanie Davis, 37, and Leneka Pendergrass, 27.

Another defendant, Shahid Hamid, 45, owns Video Odyssey on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland and was indicted on charges of helping people illegally bypass vehicle smog tests with the help of a DMV employee.

The grand jury also indicted Keith Williams, 40, and Adrian Gomez Zepeda, 31, on charges of serving as brokers or liaisons between the DMV workers and those who needed identification.

Another DMV worker, Frances Aliganga, 53, of Fairfield and another defendant who allegedly served as a broker, Veronica Rivera, 53, of Daly City were arrested in June and previously indicted.

An eighth suspect, DMV worker Brachelle Fifer, 43, faces federal charges but has not been indicted, court records show.

According to court documents, undercover FBI employees acting as clients bypassed the DMV's notoriously long lines with the help of brokers who directed them to bribed DMV employees waiting to serve them, authorities said.

From about November 2003 through June 2005, Rivera recruited illegal immigrants and offered to sell them a driver's license or identification card for $3,000 to $4,500 each, authorities said. Rivera allegedly provided fraudulently obtained -- but real -- Social Security numbers that her clients could use in DMV applications.

After accepting about half of the bribe in cash, Rivera arranged for clients to meet Aliganga, according to the indictment. Aliganga processed the clients' applications and provided them with licenses, authorities said.

Federal prosecutors said Aliganga used fictitious Social Security numbers for some clients and had licenses issued to clients who had not taken the required written or driving examinations.

In one case, an undercover FBI employee intentionally chose the wrong answer in an "overwhelming majority" of the questions on the written test but still received a license, court records show. Aliganga "tossed the exam aside, barely (if at all) glancing at it," FBI Agent Jason Richards wrote in an affidavit.

In return for her services, Aliganga received a share of the bribe each client paid to Rivera, authorities said. Fifer accepted $100 in cash each time she helped Rivera's clients get a license, and Aliganga also paid Fifer as part of the scheme, authorities said.

DMV employee Davis processed the paperwork in exchange for $100 to $200 for each smog test and $500 for each license, authorities said.

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyrevie ... ci_3261305

Former DMV worker pleads guilty
Fairfield woman to be sentenced for helping people get bogus driver's licenses, ID cards
By Josh Richman, STAFF WRITER

A former state Department of Motor Vehicles worker pleaded guilty Monday to helping people, including undocumented immigrants, get bogus driver's licenses and state identification cards in return for cash bribes.
Frances Aliganga, 53, of Fairfield entered guilty pleas to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud and one count of aiding and abetting honest services mail fraud, punishable by five and 20 years in federal prison, respectively. Each conviction also can carry a fine of up to $250,000.

She is to be sentenced March 6 by U.S. District Judge Claudia Wilken of Oakland, to whom she made her plea Monday.

A federal grand jury indictment handed up July 14 but sealed until August claimed Aliganga conspired with Veronica Rivera, 53, of Daly City in a cash-for-licenses scam at the DMV's Claremont Avenue office in Oakland from November 2003 to June 2005.

The indictment claimed Rivera offered illegal immigrants licenses or ID cards for $3,000 to $4,500 cash apiece. She's accused of providing real but fraudulently obtained Social Security numbers for them to use, arranging for them to meet Aliganga and keeping about half the money for herself.

Aliganga, a licensing and registration examiner, then granted the people licenses, the indictment says. She's accused of noting they had provided proof of legal presence when they had not; entering bogus Social Security numbers for some; and issuing licenses to people who had never taken written or driving tests.

The pair's conspiracy led to about 200 bogus licenses and ID cards being issued, the indictment claimed. Assistant U.S. Attorney W. Douglas Sprague characterized the number Monday as "at least scores of fraudulent driver's licenses."

Rivera pleaded guilty in September to one conspiracy count. She is to be sentenced Feb. 6.

License and state ID fraud has been a growing concern since seven of the Sept. 11 hijackers obtained genuine Virginia identification cards using fake residency certificates provided by bribed Virginians. An eighth apparently got a California license using a since-closed loophole in the state's application requirements. Federal prosecutors in August said there was no reason to believe any of the people who obtained licenses through Aliganga and Rivera's scheme pose a national security threat.



Contact Josh Richman at jrichman@angnewspapers.com.