Thread: Manassas man charged with license fraud

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Manassas man charged with license fraud
By PETER BACQUE
Media General News Service
Friday, May 5, 2006


RICHMOND -- DMV employees have blocked two recent attempts to get driver's licenses illegally, the agency says.
Three men were arrested in the unrelated cases, according to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles.

The two fraud attempts occurred in Emporia and Manassas in late February, DMV spokeswoman Pam Goheen said.

"I want to commend these employees for their commitment to security and dedication to DMV," agency head D. B. Smit said.

In the Manassas case, a man who had tried unsuccessfully to legally obtain a license offered a bribe to a DMV clerk on Feb. 21.

The employee alerted the agency, and DMV special agents then arrested Tlejantrbro Marroquin Isaias of Manassas when he offered $500 for a license.

Isaias, a Guatemalan, was charged with bribing a public official. He faces two to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine if convicted.

He was also held on an immigration detainer, DMV said.

On Feb. 27, the agency said, two clerks at the Emporia DMV office noticed customers presenting fraudulent permanent resident cards to prove their legal presence in the United States.

The employees notified a DMV special agent, who contacted the Emporia Police Department.

The police arrested Guadalupe Adrian Martinez and Salvador Gutierrez Zuniga, both of La Cross, and charged them with identity fraud.

"Our employees knew exactly what to do and took action to stop fraud from occurring," Smit said in a statement. "These incidents demonstrate challenges that all of our front-line employees encounter routinely."

The agency would not identify the sharp-thinking employees, though Goheen did say one will receive a $100 Fraudbuster Award from DMV.

Driver's licenses are America's key identity documents. People who can't get them legally will pay large sums for the cards.

Annually, the state Department of Motor Vehicles issues about 495,000 new driver's licenses and 197,000 I.D. cards.

Seven of the 19 hijackers in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks held Virginia identification cards, which were issued legally. The state tightened its rules after the attack.

From 2001 through 2005, Virginia's DMV investigated 194 cases of license fraud, including 82 involving employees.

During that time, 18 department workers were convicted in fraud cases and the agency canceled more than 1,200 suspect licenses.

DMV has received about 250 tips since it set up the Zero Fraud hot line, Goheen said, and 70 are under investigation.

Peter Bacque is a staff writer at Media General's Richmond Times-Dispatch.

Good for those employees in following the law and alerting their superiors that people were trying to receive licenses fraudulently. If we had more of this they would not be able to get them. In MA we recently had employees of the registry of motor vehicles arrested for giving out licenses illegally for money.