Haymarket RMV Clerks Charged With Selling Phony IDs To Illegal Aliens Reach Plea Deal With Feds

Printed from: https://newbostonpost.com/2017/10/02/haymarket-rmv-clerks-charged-with-selling-phony-ids-to-illegal-aliens-reach-plea-deal-with-feds/

Evelyn Medina, one of four RMV clerks charged in connection with a drivers license scheme tailored for illegal aliens, posted to Facebook this photo of herself apparently taken at her place of work, the Haymarket RMV office in Boston. (Facebook) Evelyn Medina, one of four RMV clerks charged in connection with a drivers license scheme tailored for illegal aliens, posted to Facebook this photo of herself apparently taken at her place of work, the Haymarket RMV office in Boston. (Facebook)

(UPDATED 5:45 p.m.)

BOSTON — The four Haymarket Registry of Motor Vehicles employees charged with operating a fraudulent driver’s license ring involving identities stolen from Americans living in Puerto Rico have reached plea agreements with the government.

The apparent ringleader of the clerk-involved scam, 56-year-old Evelyn Medina of Jamaica Plain, will serve 15 months in federal prison, should a federal judge accept terms of her plea deal. Medina had previously faced a maximum sentence of 15 years.

Three clerks in addition to Medina — Annette Gracia, 37, of Boston; Kimberly Jordan, 33, of Randolph; David Brimage, 46, of Boston — pleaded guilty to a single count of producing a fake identification document.

Two other individuals, 32-year-old Angel Miguel Beltre Tejada, identified as a Dominican national living illegally in Jamaica Plain, and Bivian Yohanny Brea, 41, of Boston, were also involved in the scam. Brea pleaded guilty to a single count of producing fake IDs while Tejada was charged with one count of aggravated identity theft. According to federal prosecutors, Tejada’s charge carries a mandatory two-year sentence. He will also be subject to deportation proceedings following any time he serves in prison.

Gracia’s deal involves serving one year and one day in prison while Jordan and Brimage will potentially spend eight months behind bars, pending court approval.

For Medina, the deal likely marks the end of an investigation that saw federal investigators also question the frequency of her travels to her native Dominican Republic and a one-day discrepancy in birth dates listed on her identification documents. Medina is a United States citizen.

Court documents show that investigators zeroed-in on the Haymarket RMV office after State Police reported receiving an anonymous letter from an apparent RMV employee who singled-out Medina and accused her of engaging in a cash-for-fake-IDs ring. The investigation broadened to include Gracia, Jordan, and Brimage. Records indicate that the four clerks were in cahoots with Brea and Tejada to “fraudulently provide Massachusetts licenses and identification cards to illegal aliens for cash,” according to a Department of Justice press release.

“The scheme involved several steps,” the release noted. “ Tejeda and Brea would obtain identification documents belonging to United States citizens in Puerto Rico and sell them to clients who were seeking legitimate identities in Massachusetts. These clients included illegal aliens, individuals who were previously deported, and an individual who admitted to previously facing drug charges. Tejeda would receive several hundred dollars in cash each time he sold identification documents. Brea received up to $2,700 per identity for her role in the scheme, which included helping clients obtain the documents and facilitating their acquisition of Massachusetts identity documents.”

The clerks, according to investigators, would then pocket hundreds of dollars in cash to issue the fraudulent licenses and identification cards.

“The clerks also accepted bribes to use the RMV’s system to run queries, including Social Security number audits, to confirm that the identities the clients were stealing actually belonged to verifiable individuals,” the release added.

Prosecutors hinted in August that a plea deal was likely in the works. The five were arrested and charged in late July.

Tejada’s federal court entries have also been a source of confusion. The DOJ press release announcing the plea deals mentions him as both “Tejada” and “Tejeda.”

A subsequent search of federal court records under the name of “Angel Miguel Beltre Tejada,” the spelling matching his original July 24 criminal complaint, yielded more than 230 criminal entries and dozens of civil entries, both as a plaintiff and as a defendant:

Tejada’s criminal complaint indicates that he has operated under a host of aliases, including “Flako,” “Miguel,” “Pablo D. Gonzalez Lopez,” “Rafael R. Bonano” and “John Doe.”

DOJ spokesman Christina Sterling said in an email to the New Boston Post that “Tejada” is the correct spelling of his last name, but could not comment on why the name “Angel Miguel Beltre Tejada” appeared in so many cases except to say that it would “take some time for us to sort out.”

In several cases examined by the New Boston Post, it appeared that the name was used as an alias. In at least one case, the charges were dropped after the defendant died.

Meanwhile, the four clerks, who were suspended from the RMV without pay following their arrests, all face two years of supervised release upon completion of their prison sentences. Tejada has not reached a plea agreement. Brea’s is a non-binding plea agreement. According to prosecutors, he will be subject to three years of supervised release following his still undetermined sentence and a fine of $250,000.

Read a copy of Medina’s plea deal:

2017-10-02 Medina Plea Agreement by Evan on Scribd

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