DMV examiner in Lumberton and 2 illegal immigrants accused in fake ID scam

fayobserver.com
By James Halpin
Published: 08:09 AM, Fri Nov 18, 2011

LUMBERTON - A federal indictment accuses a Division of Motor Vehicles employee in Robeson County of taking bribes in exchange for issuing fake IDs to undocumented people, according to court documents.

Pablo Sarmiento, a driver's license examiner in Lumberton, is charged with one felony count of Social Security fraud in connection with an offense that took place Aug. 17.

Two other people, Francisco Salome-Ramirez and Jamie Cortes-Gonzalez, are charged with Social Security fraud and eluding examination and inspection by immigration, according to the indictment filed in federal court this month.

The indictment alleges that Salome-Ramirez and Cortes-Gonzalez fraudulently obtained forged and duplicated Social Security cards, birth certificates and other identification that belonged to real people.

The documents were then given to others to be used for getting photo identification from the DMV, including state-issued ID cards and driver's licenses, the indictment says. Salome-Ramirez and Cortes-Gonzalez charged the people a fee to coordinate the operation and ensure they were directed to Sarmiento's workstation, according to the indictment.

Salome-Ramirez and Cortes-Gonzalez paid Sarmiento to process and approve the photo identification based on the fake documentation, the indictment says.

The three defendants knew that the people seeking identification cards were not those whose names and information appeared on the documents, authorities say.

Once issued the photo identification, the individuals were then able to assume the identity of the people whose identities were stolen, the indictment says.

Salome-Ramirez and Cortes-Gonzalez are illegal Mexican immigrants who entered the U.S. through Arizona in 2001 and 1996, respectively, and who have been living under false identities since, according to court records.

Salome-Ramirez also is known as Melvin Cruz-Carrasco. Cortes-Gonzalez also is known as Victor Manuel Rosado-Santiago.

North Carolina DMV spokeswoman Marge Howell said Sarmiento has been an agency employee since May 2004 and was in the same district until he resigned Oct. 6.

There is no indication that any DMV employee other than Sarmiento was involved in the scheme, she said. Howell said she did not know how he alone could have ensured certain people came to his workstation.

Examiners review documents in the office and are trained to follow a strict set of guidelines, she said. They are supposed to scan any questionable documents and send them to headquarters for further review, she said.

"We are in the process, too, of upgrading our driver's license system that will require more scanning of more documents to come to headquarters to be given another once-over, especially ones with questions surrounding them," Howell said.

It is the second allegation of misconduct at a Robeson County DMV office since September, when the state closed a license plate agency in St. Pauls. Three employees were charged with hundreds of counts of fraud following a two-month investigation that turned up evidence they were accepting payoffs for titling vehicles without proper documentation.

Howell said she did not believe there is a connection between the cases. Driver's license examiners are state employees, while workers at license plate agencies are contractors.

"We very rarely find situations with state employees that rise to the level of this case," Howell said. "We have great respect for most of our driver's license examiners, and by and large, they do a great job for the public. But every once in a while you get a bad apple."

Staff writer James Halpin can be contacted at halpinj@fayobserver.com or 486-3509.

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