Two Year Sentence For Scheme To Get Illegal Immigrants Driver’s Licenses

A member of a multi-state scheme to supply illegal immigrants with driver’s licenses is to spend two years in prison.

U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman announced that Ho-Man Lee, who had previously plead guilty to unlawfully conspiring to produce identification documents before U.S. Magistrate Judge James B. Clark III, was sentenced Wednesday by U.S. District Judge Kevin McNulty in Newark to two years in prison and three years of supervised release.

According to the U.S. Attorney, Ho-Man Lee was the “Virginia broker” in ring leader Young-Kyu Park’s criminal enterprise to provide documents to illegal immigrants. The “Park Criminal Enterprise” operated in New Jersey, California, Nevada and Virginia.

To accomplish their ends, the Park Criminal Enterprise would illegally obtain real driver’s licenses from the states in which the scheme was operating.

“To do so, it obtained, created and counterfeited a variety of documents and sold them to customers. Conspirators also escorted customers to various state motor vehicle agencies and coached them on obtaining licenses. Customers typically paid the Park Criminal Enterprise $3,000 to $4,500 for the unlawful services,” the U.S. Attorney explained in a news release.

The U.S. Attorney noted that in addition to illegally obtaining drivers licenses, Park and his ring also engaged in counterfeiting passports and phony utility bills and banks statements to meet residency requirements.

Lee’s roll in the enterprise was to meet with customers and provide them with the fraudulent documents, including immigration forms Park was able to obtain from Martin Trejo a former U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services employee.

Lee would then take the illegal immigrants paying for the ring’s service to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles where they would obtain their driver’s licenses.

According to the U.S. Attorney, Park was sentenced to six years in prison in January and Trego was sentenced to two years and two months in September.

At the outset, 22 people were charged in connection with the Park Criminal Enterprise. NewJersey.com reports that so far 15 have been convicted.

Since the authorities first busted the ring in 2012, California and Nevada have both adopted policies allowing illegals to obtain driver’s licenses. The two states are among the 10 states and District of Columbia that issue driver’s licenses or similar certifications to illegal immigrants.