A scheme that took root in or
around 2010 at the Department of Motor Vehicles offices of El Cajon and
Rancho San Diego resulted in hundreds of standard and commercial driving
licenses being granted to people who failed or never took their driving
tests. Applicants “who were unwilling or unable to pass the required
DMV written and driving tests would speak with the recruiters. … If they
paid the fee, they would not have to take any of the required tests in
order to receive a license,” federal court records state. The
arrangement “created a significant public safety risk,” the records
continue.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen anything like this,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Orabona.
Last
week nine people were charged with bribery and conspiracy, including a
DMV supervisor, Jesse Mario Bryan, 36. Thursday, four defendants were
arraigned. If convicted, they face prison time and fines of up to
$250,000. Last May, 21 others involved in the same scheme were indicted;
several of those defendants have since pleaded guilty.
In complaints for both related
cases, investigators describe a two-tier scheme where members of the
public bribed purveyors of illegal licenses, and where these middlemen
bribed DMV employees for the licenses. The investigators offer some
colorful details: furtive glances exchanged between alleged
co-conspirators, flurries of text messages that discussed timing and
pricing, and cryptic shorthand.
The
text messages also suggest that the alleged participants put profits
over safety: In one exchange from December, 2011, a DMV driving exam
proctor named Jim Bean allegedly noted that a fake license applicant was
a poor driver. “She gonna kill someone,” he wrote, a court record
states. The man who was selling the woman the license and bribing the
DMV replied, “Oh, I didn’t know. She said I’m driving ok. If u want u
can skip it.” Bean, the DMV employee, immediately wrote back: “I need
cash so as long as she gets help.” The recruiter then paid the DMV
employee for a passing driving test score, court documents allege. (Continues)
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