Prosecutors call Boynton Beach man 'puppet master' of multi-million dollar illegal driver license scheme
By ELIOT KLEINBERG



Friday, September 18, 2009

Prosecutors this morning called a Boynton Beach man the "puppet master" of a multi-million dollar scheme in which examiners were paid to get more than 1,500 illegal immigrants driver licenses.

Jonex Moise, 35, of Boynton Beach is one of six people charged with recruiting at least seven examiners at the Delray Beach license bureau.

Previous story: 10 being charged in million-dollar scheme to sell driver licenses to at least 1,500 illegal immigrants


Jonex Moise

Investigators say outside ringleaders conspired with at least seven examiners from January 2008 until April to take bribes to provide driver licenses to illegal immigrants. Examiners are charged with taking bribes, the rest with conspiring to bribe public officials.

Arrested this week:
Examiners:
Maggie Nelson, 47, Delray Beach
Debbie Hunter Collins, 43, Delray Beach
Chenita Byrd-Mosley, 29, Boynton Beach
Osie Carter, 49, Boynton Beach

'Facilitators'
Jonex Moise, 35, Boynton Beach
Rene Clairvoyant, 57, Boca Raton

Charged but still at large:
Four additional facilitators, including two alleged "ringleaders"
Arrested in April, May
Examiners
Nelson
Collins
Jashonda Kaliha Scott, 25, Palm Springs
Patreese Harvey, 28, Palm Springs
Melita Dera Zilea, 28, Coral Springs

Facilitators
Alex Adrien, 42, Delray Beach








Moise and four others were booked Wednesday and Thursday and another one this morning. Four more remain at large, prosecutors say.

Two examiners were charged when the ring was broken in May and face new conspiracy counts.

The earlier arrests netted those two and three additional examiners, along one alleged outside conspirator who has since been deported to Haiti.

Documents charge the conspirators generated fake immigration documents, then directed applicants to participating examiners, who would wave them through, often without requiring driving or written tests.

Prosecutors have said the state is working to void the illicit licenses.

The documents allege examiners ignored mistakes in fake documents and also drew attention by buying expensive items far beyond what their salaries, less than $20,000, should have accommodated.

In court this morning, Judge Ted Booras ordered Moise held in lieu of $130,000 bail.

Assistant State Attorney Alan Johnson, Palm Beach County's public corruption prosecutor, noted investigators, with a fourth of some 6,600 transactions yet to review, already have flagged 1,503 licenses.

At fees of $1,200 to $2,500 per license, "there may as much as several million dollars involved in the scheme," Johnson told the judge.

He said Moise and two others, still at large, were the main ringleaders.

"Moise was the mastermind, the 'puppet master,' if you will," Johnson said.

Booras also ordered a "nebia" hearing to make sure the defendants didn't post bond with money earned from the alleged conspiracy.

Moise's attorney, Gordon Richstone of West Palm Beach, insisted prosecutors had a "weak case" and that their documents presented conclusions without "one iota of evidence against my client," only the statements of three examiners caught up in the scheme.

Johnson argued the examiners gave extensive detail about how Moise would send text messages to their cellphones in the morning, giving the number of applicants he was sending their way, and sometimes actually walked the applicants to the examiners.

Johnson also said one of the outside conspirators told investigators Moise had threatened to "go after" at least one of the examiners and her family if she cooperated with authorities.

Richstone asked that Moise be allowed to leave jail on his own recognizance, saying he owns a business, has never had legal trouble, has many relatives in the area - many of whom came to court this morning - and could have fled at any time during the months he knew he was being investigated.

"He's not guilty of these charges. We do plan on fighting these charges. He's not running anywhere," Richstone said.

Johnson got the judge to order Moise surrender his passport, "for what it's worth," saying it might be moot for someone who allegedly dealt in fake ones.

But Booras refused to order that, if released, Moise be on house arrest.


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