Thread: Woman sentenced for selling driver's licenses to IAs

Woman sentenced for selling driver's licenses to illegal aliens
By Edward Colimore
Inquirer Staff Writer

A Robbinsville, N.J., woman yesterday was sentenced to 75 months in federal prison for scheming to obtain Pennsylvania driver's licenses for illegal aliens who paid up to $4,000 for the credentials.

Altagracia "Grace" Rosario, 49, also was ordered by U.S. District Judge Joseph E. Irenas to serve three years of supervised release following her incarceration.

Rosario's bail was revoked when she was convicted May 29 along with her 30-year-old daughter, Nancy Elgende, and 45-year-old Jose Rios, both of Robbinsville, in Mercer County, on the charge of conspiracy to unlawfully obtain driver's licenses for illegal aliens.

Ronald Henry, 65, a former Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver's license examiner from Philadelphia, also was charged in the indictment and pleaded guilty to the offense during trial.

"These defendants enabled illegal aliens to get driver's licenses and in some cases climb behind the wheel of tractor-trailers," said U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie. "That's not only criminal, it's frightening. We're glad they are out of business and now serving federal prison terms."

The jury found that Rosario charged between $2,500 and $4,000 for Pennsylvania driver's licenses that would have cost valid applicants as little as $31.

Many of Rosario's clients obtained licenses without undergoing any examination of their driving abilities or knowledge of the rules of the road, authorities said.

The licenses for deportable aliens allowed them to drive cars, and in many instances, tractor trailers with commercial driver's licenses issued by PennDOT.

Rosario created fraudulent and counterfeit immigration documents, such as passports and visas, which she, Elgende, Rios and others then used to obtain the driver's licenses for their illegal immigrant clients, authorities said.

The government presented evidence at the trial showing scanned images of U.S.-issued visas in various stages of alteration on a computer hard drive seized by federal agents at Rosario's residence.

Prosecutors also provided as evidence many foreign passports, altered and counterfeit visas, birth certificates and social security cards in other individuals' names - all found in Rosario's residence during the search.

A superseding indictment naming the three defendants convicted at trial charged Henry; Lizette Mahsel, 26, of Robbinsville; and Christopher Nix, 27, also of Robbinsville.

Before trial started, Mahsel and Nix both pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce five or more driver's licenses.

And during the trial, Henry pleaded guilty to conspiring to produce five or more driver's licenses.

In a plea agreement, Henry admitted abusing his position as a driver's license examiner with PennDOT to commit the offense. He said he accepted the bogus documentation submitted on behalf of Rosario's illegal-alien clients.

Elgende and Rios were sentenced on Oct. 16 to prison sentences of 41 months and 30 months, respectively. Henry was sentenced on Nov. 28 to 33 months in federal prison.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/local/nj ... liens.html

Wow, another shocker. A DMV Employee being paid off to creat fake IDS. The Real ID wont stop people like that and it wont prevent illegals from getting fake id's, it will just cost them a bit more.

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http://www.alipac.us/article3134.html