Illegal aliens, criminals obtain driver's licenses from corrupt officials [PA]

AIPNews.com

Pennsylvania Independent Party


Examiner
June 13, 2010
Jim Kouri

Phony motor vehicle driver licenses are falling into the hands of illegal aliens across the nation.

CBP

Charges were filed against the final three individuals in a scheme to make cash payments to state driver's license examiners in exchange for the issuance of authentic Pennsylvania driver's licenses as a result of an investigation led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Saman H. Salem, Harold Palmer, and Pierre E. Jean-Louis were charged in federal court with extortion and manufacturing identity documents without lawful authority.

Salem is also charged with tax evasion, obstruction of justice, and illegally structuring cash transactions to avoid notice to federal regulators. Palmer is also charged with making false statements to federal agents.

According to the court documents obtained by the National Association of Chiefs of Police, suspects Salem and Jean-Louis made cash payments to driver's license examiners and posed as interpreters who assisted applicants in cheating on driver’s license examinations.

Meanwhile, Harold Palmer, a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation driver's license examiner, took cash payments to issue driver's licenses. The charges are part of a two-year investigation into several illegal businesses that assisted illegal aliens, foreign nationals, and others in obtaining driver's licenses, through fraudulent means, at various state driver's license centers in Philadelphia.

"These defendants are charged with systematically corrupting the process of obtaining driving licenses and putting hundreds of identification documents into the hands of people not eligible to receive them," said U. S. Attorney Michael L. Levy.

"Fraudulently obtained identification documents do more than put unfit drivers on the road and endanger other drivers and pedestrians, they enable other crimes and prevent law enforcement's detection of those crimes," he said.

"Public corruption by state employees selling authentic drivers' licenses to criminals significantly impacts the community's safety and security," said John P. Kelleghan, special agent in charge of the ICE Office of Investigations in Philadelphia. "This case demonstrates both the seriousness of the threat and the effectiveness of ICE's Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force."

If convicted, Salem faces a maximum sentence of 53 years in prison. Palmer faces a maximum sentence of 40 years imprisonment and Jean-Louis faces a maximum sentence of 35 years imprisonment.