DMV cancels over 1,300 licenses following scam

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By

RICHMOND -- The Department of Motor Vehicles has thus far canceled more than 1,300 licenses of drivers who didn't respond to the agency's request to verify they got their licenses legally.

DMV officials said yesterday that 1,361 drivers in Northern Virginia either failed to respond by yesterday's deadline or their responses couldn't be verified.

"We canceled the ones we couldn't verify," said Pamela M. Goheen, agency spokeswoman. "DMV is obligated to make certain that the transaction conducted was valid."

The DMV last month sent letters to 2,837 drivers in Northern Virginia who between Sept. 28, 1998, and July 1, 2003, had used out-of-state licenses to get new ones from two former employees at the Tysons Corner branch. Those employees last year were convicted of participating in a $1 million scheme that involved illegally selling licenses.

In its letter, the DMV had asked those drivers to send information about their out-of-state licenses by yesterday's date. The letters were mailed Dec. 15.

Mrs. Goheen said yesterday 1,817 drivers had responded to DMV's letter. Of those, 275 were verified by the issuing state and 341 were found to be invalid, and those licenses were canceled. The agency is still working to verify the remaining responses.

She said 258 letters were returned to the DMV, marked "undeliverable" by the U.S. Postal Service, and 762 letters are still outstanding. The DMV canceled those driver's licenses, she said.

The DMV has no plans to penalize violators beyond revoking their licenses.

Mrs. Goheen said responses postmarked by yesterday's date would be accepted.

If a license was canceled in error, Mrs. Goheen said the DMV will then work with that driver to get them reinstated. but those drivers must meet state requirements.

Federal prosecutors estimate the two former DMV clerks helped 1,000 motorists illegally obtain licenses by falsifying applications to appear as if some customers had turned in valid out-of-state licenses, which reduces paperwork for a new license, according to court records.

The two clerks -- Consuelo Onate-Banzon, 46, of Lorton, and Rony Razon, 31, of Vienna, Va. -- were arrested July 2 in connection with the $1 million scheme to produce and sell authentic Virginia driver's licenses to unqualified applicants during the past five years.

The clerks pleaded guilty to document fraud.

Onate-Banzon was sentenced last month to 41 months in federal prison and had to forfeit $200,000 in illegal earnings. Razon was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison and had to forfeit $100,000.

The scheme involved selling more than 1,000 licenses for $800 to $1,600 each to buyers who otherwise could not obtain legitimate licenses. Some of the applicants needed the illegal licenses because they had immigration problems or criminal records.

As of Jan. 1, a new law requires Virginia drivers to provide one of several government-issued documents proving they are either U.S. citizens or are here legally before they can obtain a license. The law is an attempt to close the loopholes that allowed seven of the 19 September 11 hijackers to get licenses and identification in Virginia.