Thread: OH-Illegal driver's license scheme had ties to Parma residen

Parma is a very nice southwest suburb of Cleveland.

Illegal driver's license scheme had ties to Parma residents
By Bob Sandrick, Parma Sun Post
November 04, 2009, 5:07PM
PARMA -- Two of those arrested last week in an alleged driver’s license scheme are Parma residents.

That’s according to Scott T. Wilson, FBI spokesman.

Vitaly Fedorchuk, 40, and Sonya Hilaszek, 45, both of Parma, allegedly sold driver’s licenses to Ukrainians living illegally in the United States.

The sales were made in the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles’ Parma office, where Hilaszek was deputy registrar.

On Oct. 29, Fedorchuk, Hilaszek and a third suspect, Pavlo Mostranskyy, 45, a Cleveland-area resident, were charged with conspiracy to commit fraud in U.S. District Court in Cleveland.

Hilaszek was released on $20,000 bond with restrictions. Fedorchuk and Mostranskyy were still in custody as of Tuesday morning, Wilson said.

The driver’s license scheme was apparently part of a larger international scheme to bring Ukrainians illegally into the United States.

Here’s what happened, according to the FBI:

In 2007, the FBI received a tip that members of Greater Cleveland’s Ukrainian community were helping foreign nationals come here illegally.

Part of the scheme involved helping foreign nationals buy driver’s licenses.

The FBI started investigating and identified Fedorchuk as the ringleader.

Meanwhile, Hilaszek was selling driver’s licenses for $1,500-$3,000 to Ukrainian nationals who had fraudulent or no supporting documentation.

Mostranskyy, a Ukrainian national, acted as a middleman who helped bring foreign nationals to Cleveland.

Other scheme participants — living in several U.S. cities including Cincinnati, Newark, Philadelphia and Chicago — helped Hilaszek and Fedorchuk find customers, and 15 of them have been arrested.

Helping in the investigation were the Ohio State Highway Patrol, Ohio Department of Public Safety, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the IRS and the Social Security Administration’s Office of the Inspector General.

The investigation found that the scheme had been in operation for four years and that 300-500 illegal driver’s licenses had been sold.

It also revealed that the suspects in Ohio were working with another group in Ukraine to obtain fraudulent non-immigrant visas for Ukrainians.

The Ukrainians used the visas to come to Ohio and other parts of the U.S.

The visas, at $12,000 each, were obtained at the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine, through corrupt Ukrainian workers at the embassy.

Wilson said the FBI is still trying to identify those who fraudulently obtained visas and driver’s licenses. He said he doesn’t know whether they live in Parma.

"They came to Cleveland," Wilson said. "Whether they stayed here is part of the investigation."

Two local Ukrainian leaders said the alleged scheme shouldn’t tarnish the Parma Ukrainian community. In August the city dedicated a Ukrainian Village.

"It’s a shame but sometimes an incident like this would bring a bad rap to the good immigrants," said Maria Flynn, who organized a festival celebrating the Ukrainian Village dedication.

Andy Fedynsky, director of the Ukrainian Museum Archives in the Tremont neighborhood of Cleveland, agreed.

Fedynsky said the alleged scheme is not reflective of the overall Ukrainian community. He advised people to avoid stereotyping.

"Almost without exception, Ukrainians are hard-working, good citizens who are law-abiding," Fedynsky said. "You’ve got a bad apple here or there."

Contact Sandrick at (216) 986-5478.
http://blog.cleveland.com/parmasunpost/ ... cheme.html

Related:
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-176448-fedorchuk.html

Parma is a very nice southwest suburb of Cleveland.

Used to be working middle class in the 1950's. Pretty mixed now but still OK. Close to auto plants. Has some nice pocket areas.

"Almost without exception, Ukrainians are hard-working, good citizens who are law-abiding," Fedynsky said. "You’ve got a bad apple here or there."

Why does that sound so familiar?