Man nabbed for illegal license scheme
DANIEL TEPFER dtepfer@ctpost.com
Article Last Updated: 10/17/2007 04:19:07 PM EDT


BRIDGEPORT — A former city resident, who police said sold Connecticut driver's licenses to illegal Indian and Pakistani immigrants, has been arrested in Illinois.
Daxeshkumar "Jigu" Patel, 29, was brought back here Tuesday and arraigned today in Superior Court.

He is charged with violating the Corrupt Organization Racketeering Act and multiple counts of bribery, conspiracy to commit bribery, second-degree forgery and conspiracy to commit second-degree forgery.

Judge Matthew Frechette ordered Patel held in lieu of $300,000 bond. The case was continued for two weeks.

Patel, who worked in local grocery stores, acted as a middleman between illegal immigrants seeking to use driver's licenses for identity purposes and employees of the state Department of Motor Vehicles office in Bridgeport who provided the licenses, police said.

Patel allegedly would offer to secure a state driver's license for an immigrant for between $500 and $1,500. If the immigrant agreed to pay, Patel provided them with a license form and then directed the immigrant to a particular DMV worker, who supplied a driver's license without the immigrant having to take a driver's test or present any background information, police said.

Patel then turned over the money to one of the DMV employees, who gave him a percentage of the take, police said.

So far, six DMV employees have been arrested in a scheme that police say sold thousands of driver's licenses to illegal immigrants and convicted felons.

When police learned about Patel's role in the license-selling scheme, he had moved to Hoffman Estates in Illinois.

State Police, along with the Illinois police, arrested Patel there last Thursday. He subsequently waived extradition to Connecticut.


http://www.connpost.com/breakingnews/ci_7204643