Feds Uncover Driver’s License Fraud Operation
Officials say illegal immigrants were brought to Oregon and supplied with fake addresses to get IDs
Ryan Frank and Noelle Crombie, The Oregonian, Mar. 28
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Thousands of illegal immigrants have crossed into Oregon to fraudulently obtain driver’s licenses, key documents for gaining credit cards, opening bank accounts and boarding airplanes, federal authorities investigating the sophisticated scheme say.
They say the operation, which was halted in 2003, is the biggest fraud and immigration case of its kind in Oregon.
“Thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of people that should not be getting driver’s licenses are,” said Michael Williams, a special agent with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and a lead investigator on the case. “It’s mind-boggling. When all the details of the case come out eventually, it will boggle people’s minds that this went on.”
The investigation centers on three Washington County brothers who operated driving and testing schools and a Southeast Portland man who recruited illegal immigrants from New York.
In January, an Aloha woman — the only person charged so far — was convicted of selling counterfeit mail as part of the scheme. The bogus mail — a key to the operation’s success — was used to falsely prove residency to Oregon Driver and Motor Vehicle Services clerks.
Three factors led to the operation’s success in Oregon: The state issues licenses based on residency, not immigration status. Oregon is one of 21 states that will license illegal immigrants. Until this year, DMV accepted personal mail such as letters as proof of residency at a specific Oregon address. DMV officials didn’t enforce the agency’s rules, allowing private companies to conduct tests without requiring customers to prove they lived in Oregon.
Law enforcement and immigration officials say the case illustrates how easily anyone can get a government-issued ID, and shows how an unscrupulous entrepreneur can exploit illegal immigrants desperate to remain in the country.
Federal agents say the ease with which people were able to get Oregon IDs raises security concerns in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks. Many of the 19 hijackers had state-issued or counterfeit driver’s licenses or ID cards — although none was from Oregon.
Thousands of drivers
Investigators say the scheme brought to Oregon thousands of illegal immigrants from California, Idaho, Nevada and New York. The immigrants — arriving by the vanload or by plane — would receive forged documents, including completed license applications and, sometimes, completed driving tests. After paying hundreds of dollars for the service, they returned home within days with Oregon driver’s licenses in hand.
In court records, federal agents accuse participants in the scheme of conspiring to violate federal immigration laws.
One of the men the investigation focuses on is former state contractor Miguel Robleto and his Hillsboro company, Driver Master Education. According to state records, 20,225 people passed state driving tests through the company over more than three years. No one is certain how many of those people obtained Oregon licenses.
In the three years ending in 2003, 70,000 people on average annually passed DMV driving tests. Robleto’s company each year gave an average of 5,300 passing grades on driving tests.
Federal agents have seized, from seven people, $1.1 million related to the scheme. Nearly $900,000 came from Robleto, according to records filed in U.S. District Court.
Robleto last week denied any wrongdoing, saying the money came from legitimate business operations. He has not been charged with any crime.
Immigration agents began investigating Robleto and his business in May 2002 when Oregon DMV employees alerted them to concerns about potential fraud, according to a 35-page affidavit written by Special Agent Glenn Watson. The affidavit was filed in federal court to support the government’s seizure of money related to the operation.
Robleto’s company in early 2000 won a state contract to conduct driving tests for people seeking Oregon licenses. He and a handful of others were awarded contracts that year in an effort to privatize some DMV operations and offer motorists flexibility in scheduling and locations.
But, according to a DMV review, signs of trouble emerged in the program’s first year.
At least one DMV employee said a contractor who wasn’t named had “accepted obviously false documents,” according to the December 2000 report.
In the same report, employees said they saw “many opportunities for abuse. . . . There are doubts about the ethics of some of the third-party examiners.”
DMV officials last week said some of the complaints were anonymous and could not be substantiated.
Hints of a scheme
In May 2002, nearly 18 months after the review, DMV employees told immigration officials that Robleto was possibly involved in a scheme to help illegal immigrants from other states obtain Oregon driver’s licenses.
According to court documents, Robleto’s customers complained that the Hillsboro man was charging illegal immigrants $100 for a piece of counterfeit mail.
One DMV employee told investigators she saw packed cars with out-of-state license plates arrive at a DMV branch. People inside the cars often would be turned away because they lacked paperwork to prove they lived in Oregon only to return a short time later with the documents.
Immigration officials later learned the people were customers of Miguel Robleto’s company or La Unica, a Beaverton driving school run by his brothers Sergio Robleto, 41, and Fabio Robleto, 39.
According to court documents, Fabio Robleto said “some guys” were transporting people from California to Oregon for driving tests. He later admitted charging them $2,500 each for the ride.
James Cattanach, a Beaverton man who ran his own testing company and is also under investigation, told authorities he saw three large vans used to take people from Las Vegas to La Unica.
DMV records showed some of Miguel Robleto’s customers used common addresses when applying for licenses. In one case, 14 customers listed one Bend home.
Miguel Robleto, 45, said last week that it wasn’t his role to verify his customers lived in Oregon.
“That’s not my job,” he said. “The DMV is the person who was doing all that.”
But according to state rules, testing companies were required to ask for documents proving Oregon residency.
Gary A. Ouderkirk, DMV’s auditor for the program, said last week he was unaware of the rule.
The state stopped using contractors to perform tests in November.
Miguel Robleto continues to run a driving school. One afternoon last week, a steady stream of customers stopped by his office in a one-story home in the 500 block of Southwest Walnut Street in Hillsboro.
Lawyer Michelle Burrows, who is representing Sergio and Fabio Robleto, declined to let her clients be interviewed.
“All I can say right now is my clients deny any wrongdoing,” she said.
Fake mail was key
Court records say the operation’s success hinged on one piece of paper: counterfeit mail.
Veronica Trejo-Jasso, the only person charged in the scheme, told investigators she sold mail to Miguel Robleto’s customers for four months in 2003. According to court records, Trejo-Jasso, 29, would address envelopes in pencil to an Aloha post office box or former residences. She would pick up the mail and erase the original recipient’s name. Trejo-Jasso would then replace it with a customer’s name and address. At times she also used a counterfeit postmark stamp.
Trejo-Jasso sold as many as 55 envelopes a week for $25 each, court records say. During a search of her apartment in September, federal agents seized $26,478 in cash hidden in a sock.
In January, Trejo-Jasso was sentenced to two years in prison for forgery-related charges.
In an interview with The Oregonian, Miguel Robleto denied Trejo-Jasso’s account, saying he didn’t know about her counterfeit mail scam.
Recruiting from New York
While Miguel Robleto’s company catered to Latino customers, another central figure in the investigation told federal officials he recruited Chinese nationals living in New York.
Maxim Lam, 53, told federal agents he found customers through the Far East Driving School in New York. He helped five to 10 people a week get Oregon licenses with counterfeit documents, according to court records.
Records don’t explain what business relationship Miguel Robleto and Lam shared.
Lam said he charged $400 to $500 to pick up a Chinese national at the Portland airport, take him to a motel and then to the DMV.
Court records say he often furnished customers with completed driver’s license applications and even offered to have other people take a test for them. About 70 of Lam’s customers used four addresses in the Portland area — including his own and that of a motel.
Lam at times sent his Chinese clients to Cattanach’s company, Catt’s Testing in Beaverton. Cattanach told investigators Lam brought “ringers” — people who would take the driving test for his customers. Cattanach, 67, said he threatened to stop working with Lam if he didn’t end the practice, according to court records.
Last fall, federal agents seized $73,880 from Cattanach’s home and bank accounts.
In an interview with The Oregonian, Cattanach said he did nothing wrong. He said he only tested customers after DMV had seen documents showing their identity, age and Oregon residency.
“I didn’t test anyone the DMV hadn’t approved,” Cattanach said.
Lam, a Canadian citizen, has not been charged in connection with the fraud investigation. He could not be reached for comment at the Southeast Portland address listed on state DMV records and in court documents. DMV adjusts practices
The criminal investigation contributed to the state ending its contract testing program in November, said Lorna Youngs, DMV administrator.
And this year, Youngs said, DMV has tightened its rules about which documents applicants can use to prove their identity and Oregon residency as part of a post-Sept. 11 review.
DMV no longer accepts personal mail as proof of Oregon residency. Instead, it requires mail from official sources, such as utilities, that better tie a resident to a specific address. The agency also doesn’t accept Spanish-language birth certificates.
“Our customer-service goals are taking a back seat to more rigorous requirements,” Youngs said.
The state still accepts Mexican consular identification, despite a recommendation from the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators to stop the practice because of security concerns.
Youngs said that if the agency stopped accepting consular identification many illegal immigrants would be excluded from getting licenses, a move she said would require action by the Legislature.
Even with further changes in Oregon, one expert said the nation’s driver’s licensing system remains ripe for fraud.
Despite widespread acceptance of state-issued driver’s licenses, few if any states independently verify documents shown by their customers.
Werner Raes, a retired Anaheim, Calif., police detective and vice president of the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators, said driver’s licenses shouldn’t be accepted as proof of someone’s identity.
“You can just walk into any DMV in this country and get a fake ID for $20,” he said. “In this country, you can be anyone you want to be any day of the week.”
News researchers Lynne Palombo and Margie Gultry of The Oregonian contributed to this report. Ryan Frank: 503-294-5955; ryanfrank@news.oregonian.com Noelle Crombie: 503-276-7184; noellecrombie@news.oregonian.com
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