Thread: Illegal immigrants believed part of DMV scam in Wisconsin

http://www.madison.com/wsj/mad/top/inde ... 74&ntpid=1

THU., AUG 17, 2006 - 11:11 AM
Illegal immigrants believed part of DMV scam
ED TRELEVEN
608-252-6134
etreleven@madison.com
State officials don't know why 38 people bought driving instruction permits and a state identification card from a state Department of Transportation worker, but suspect that they were undocumented immigrants who needed identification.

State Division of Motor Vehicles employee Vicente A. Rea, 35, who allegedly issued 37 unearned driving instruction permits and a phony state identification card from November to May, was charged Tuesday with 38 counts of misconduct in office.

Authorities believe most, if not all, of the cards were issued to illegal immigrants. All of the surnames on a list of people who bought the cards appear to be of Latino origin.

"I would suspect that a majority would be undocumented folks that were just getting the driver's licenses so they could have some form of identification or ability to drive legally," said GaryGuenther, director of the bureau of field services for the DMV. "It certainly does not look like a terrorism plot."

Rea issued the cards without requiring identification from any of the recipients, according to a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Circuit Court. Rea, who was arrested Friday, is free on $1,900 bail.

Capitol Police Detective Ed Bardon said Wednesday investigators have been unable to find many of the 38 people but are continuing to look for them.

"This is not done by a long shot," Bardon said. "We still have a lot of work to do."

Bardon said he began investigating the case in March at the request of federal authorities. He said he did not know how they learned of the problem.

According to the complaint, Rea has worked for the DMV since May 2003 and was a hard worker who scored well on performance evaluations. He worked at the East Side office at 2001 Bartillon Drive.

Federal prosecutors are likely to charge a second DMV employee, Martha Patricia Cervantes, 40, with taking part in similar activity at DMV's West Side office. The next federal grand jury convenes on Aug. 23, although it's possible that prosecutors could charge Cervantes before then using a criminal complaint.

Bardon said investigators have been unable to find any link between Cervantes and Rea. Both have been suspended from their jobs.

According to the complaint:

DMV officials said none of the people who received permits took any tests before getting them, and only four had submitted applications for the permits.

Investigators obtained a key piece of evidence in the case in April when a man who was assisted by Rea was asked by another DMV employee what papers he had shown in order to get his Wisconsin identification card. The man responded that he hadn't shown anything.

Another man, who was issued a driver's license in July, told investigators that he had been issued an instruction permit by Rea on April 11. The man told Bardon that sometime in March, he became tired of not having any Wisconsin identification and said his brother had met a man who knew how to get a Wisconsin identification card. The man had said he knew someone at DMV who could get him one.

That man later told Bardon that he knows the DMV worker as "Alex." (Rea's middle name is Alejandro.) He said he went with the brothers to the DMV and saw one of them conceal $120 within the required $9 fee and hand it to "Alex."

The permit, issued in a name different from the licensee's true identity, was later mailed to him.

- State Journal reporter Phil Brinkman contributed to this report.

More ID fraud caused by illegal aliens..SAY IT ISN'T SO!!!
I thought they were just here to work and live with their 'good' morals!!