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Man faces trial after probe into Michigan driver's license scheme

By DAVID EGGERT
Associated Press Writer

August 30, 2006, 8:55 PM EDT

LANSING, Mich. -- A Polish citizen is facing a federal trial after investigators say he helped at least 150 people from New Jersey, mostly illegal immigrants, get fraudulent driver's licenses in Michigan.

Wojciech Ostrowski, 35, oversaw a scheme in which hundreds of Michigan licenses were issued for applicants purportedly living at just a handful of real and fictitious Lansing-area addresses, authorities say. Most of the applicants actually were illegal Polish immigrants from New Jersey.

Authorities allege in court records that Ostrowski and another man who may have fled the country brought the people from New Jersey to the Lansing area between June 2002 and July 2004. In exchange for $1,000 or more, they helped them complete driver-proficiency road tests and fill out driver's license applications using fake addresses.

Michigan secretary of state workers mailed the licenses to Lansing-area post office boxes specified by the applicants, and the licenses eventually got to the applicants back in New Jersey.

Ostrowski's court-appointed attorney, Roman Kosiorek, said he did nothing illegal.

"He had nothing to do with any plan or intent to defraud anybody," Kosiorek said. "People asked him to drive to Michigan and they offered him gas money and that's what he did."

Until his arrest, Ostrowski had lived in Garfield, N.J., which has a significant Polish immigrant community. He had been in the U.S. legally but overstayed his visa, authorities said.

After reviewing departmental procedures and working with law enforcement, Secretary of State Terri Lynn Land in 2004 began requiring that adults applying for their first driver's license or personal ID card show documentation indicating they live in Michigan.

Applicants previously were required to show documents proving identity. They must keep doing that but also provide at least one document _ such as a utility bill or bank statement _ with their name and Michigan address.

The tightened requirements have helped combat identity fraud, Land spokeswoman Kelly Chesney said Wednesday. The secretary of state's office canceled roughly 300 driver's licenses as a result of an investigation related to Ostrowski.

"We have made it much more difficult for organized criminal groups and individuals from both here and around the country to abuse our system," Chesney said.

P.O. boxes no longer can be used in lieu of a residential address.

Ostrowski was indicted in January 2005 and again last September, but he was not brought to Michigan until earlier this month after being incarcerated on unrelated New Jersey state charges, Assistant U.S. Attorney Hagen Frank said. He has pleaded not guilty and trial is scheduled for Oct. 10 in Grand Rapids.

If convicted of conspiracy and unlawful production and possession of identification documents, Ostrowski could face up to 15 years in prison.

According to an arrest warrant affidavit filed last week for a material witness in the case, New York and New Jersey significantly tightened their requirements for issuing driver's licenses after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Applicants who were arrested and are cooperating in the case told investigators from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Michigan State Police that it was all but impossible for an alien to get a driver's license in New York and New Jersey without proof of lawful immigration status.

A review of records from the U.S. Postal Service, secretary of state's office and commercial driver-test facilities in the Lansing area ties Ostrowski to "well over" 100 licenses, the affidavit said. His car was used to take the road test, and workers at the secretary of state branch where most of the licenses were issued recognized Ostrowski, according to the affidavit.

Ostrowski's case is the latest for authorities cracking down on driver's license fraud.

In May, three Brazilian citizens were sentenced in Detroit for transporting illegal immigrants to Michigan to fraudulently obtain driver's licenses.

In December, two Detroit-area residents _ one from Guinea and the other from Iran _ were sentenced for their involvement in a driver's license fraud scheme. Two former secretary of state employees later pleaded guilty in that case.

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On the Net:

Michigan Secretary of State: http://www.legislature.mi.gov

Michigan State Police: http://www.michigan.gov/msp

Immigration and Customs Enforcement: http://www.ice.gov