Updated: 11/26/2009 8:27 PM
KSTP.com
By: Bob McNaney & Becky Nahm



DPS Changes Driver's Lic. Policy After 5 Investigates

A 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS investigation may keep you and your family safer on Minnesota highways this busy travel weekend.

The state is making changes to the way it issues driver's licenses after 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS found dozens of people with fake licenses in one Minnesota city.

A deadly crash in February 2008 sparked the investigation.

Four children died and many more were injured when Olga Franco ran a stop sign and plowed into a school bus near Cottonwood.

Franco was in the country illegally and she had illegally obtained two Minnesota driver's licenses.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS found 77 cases in the city of Worthington, where two different people were issued a driver's licenses or a state identification card using the same name, date of birth, and address.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS went door-to-door, but could not located any of the people.

The Department of Public Safety acknowledged that the cases constituted fraud and revoked all of the licenses.

Department of Public Safety spokesman Andy Skoogman said, "The individuals in these cases were either unwilling or unable to prove to us they were who they said they were."

Law enforcement officials said people like Franco buy or steal birth certificates or other documents in order to get a Minnesota driver's license.

Investigators have learned most of those bought or stolen documents come from six cities in the southern United States.

5 EYEWITNESS NEWS knows the names of those cities, but is not reporting them because the DPS is still investigating.

If someone tries to get a license with documents from one of those six cities, they will be forced to provide additional proof of their identity.

Skoogman said, "We have identified several hundred cases of ID theft in the past six to seven months because of that policy change alone."

He said, "We are trying to prevent individuals such as Olga Franco from being on the road. We are also trying to prevent individuals from stealing other people's identities. It is common sense."

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