Thread: N.M. grand jury indicts 3 in driver's license ring

NM grand jury indicts 3 in driver's license ring

By The Associated Pres
Posted: 08/25/2011 05:44:51 PM MDT

ALBUQUERQUE — An Albuquerque grand jury Thursday indicted three leaders of an alleged Chinese crime ring on charges they helped secure New Mexico driver's licenses for more than 60 out-of-state illegal immigrants using fraudulent documents.

Gordon Leong, Tin Cheung and Alex Cheung each face 386 counts of fraud, forgery, conspiracy, making false affidavit perjury and altered, forged or fictitious licenses.

The three men are accused of running newspaper advertisements in Chinese newspapers in New York, promising New Mexico driver's licenses for $1,500 each. New Mexico is one of just three states where illegal immigrants can get driver's licenses.

Gov. Susana Martinez, who has been pushing to repeal the exception, hailed the indictment.

"We have long known of fraud and abuse in our driver's license system, and these latest indictments make it clear that we must address problem," Martinez said.

The governor has said she will put the issue on the agenda for the special session next month. Lawmakers rejected her attempts to repeal the law during the regular session earlier this year.

"We are attracting criminals to our state who exploit our driver's license policy and threaten the safety and security of all New Mexicans," Martinez said. "I applaud the hard work that went into cracking down on this particular fraud ring, but that is only a stopgap measure until we repeal the law that invites this criminal activity once and for all."

The three men are accused of running the advertisements between March 2009 and November 2010. They leased multiple apartments simultaneously in Albuquerque and secured driver's licenses for 62 illegal immigrants of Chinese descent, primarily from New York, prosecutors say.
Tin and Alex Cheung also notarized residential and lease agreement documents fraudulently for their customers, according to the indictment. The illegal immigrants flew into Albuquerque from New York, obtained their driver's permits and left the state, prosecutors said. The ringleaders had the actual licenses mailed to an address in Albuquerque and then forwarded to their clients in New York.

The New Mexico Motor Vehicle Division cancelled all the driver's licenses issued in this case after the arrest of Leong and three of his alleged customers, who prosecutors say flew into New Mexico to pick up their licenses.

Fongyee Hiew, Shu Sheng Liu and Sui Lam were indicted on 16 counts each of fraud, forgery, conspiracy, making false affidavit perjury, and altered, forged or fictitious licenses.

Arrest warrants have been issued for both Tin and Alex Cheung.

A spokeswoman for the Albuquerque district attorney's office did not know if any of the suspects had attorneys.

http://www.lcsun-news.com/las_cruces-news/ci_18758735

Related:

Chinese crime ring accused in New Mexico driver license fraud
indianas4.com
Dennis J. Carroll Reuters
9:07 p.m. EDT, August 25, 2011

http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-248247.html