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2 Va. DMV Clerks Jailed in Scheme
Two Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles clerks who helped up to 1,000 people obtain fraudulent driver's licenses were sentenced to federal prison terms Friday for document fraud. Consuelo Onate-Banzon, 46, the scheme's ringleader, was sentenced to three years and five months in prison and ordered to forfeit $200,000 in illegal earnings to the government. Her accomplice, Rony Razon, 31, received two years and three months and was ordered to forfeit $100,000. Both pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in September. Onate-Banzon and Razon helped hundreds of people, mostly Hispanic immigrants, obtain licenses over a five-year period. They were arrested in July. Their customers would pay $700 to $2,000 each for the licenses. Prosecutors said the two clerks employed five "runners" who recruited customers and would escort them directly to Onate-Banzon or Razon. There is no evidence that any would-be terrorists are among those who benefited from the scheme, U.S. Attorney Paul McNulty said.
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-12-06 |
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| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=22315 |