Woman pleads guilty in driver’s license scam

A Southeast woman yesterday pleaded guilty to conspiracy to illegally produce and sell 162 driver’s licenses.

Candace N. Green, 34, faces up to 15 years in prison after entering a guilty plea in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt.

U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus scheduled Green’s sentencing for July 6.

Green is a former employee of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration office in Beltsville, where she issued state driver’s licenses and identification cards.

Court documents state Green conspired with Ana Maria L. Creque, 45, of Adelphi, and Dennys Tome-Henriquez, 27, of New Brunswick, N.J., in a scheme to sell the licenses. Creque and Tome-Henriquez also have pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

Creque and at least one other conspirator met with prospective buyers of the unauthorized licenses. They paid Green roughly $1,300 for each license, according to court documents. Buyers were brought to the Beltsville office and directed to Green’s workstation, where they received the licenses.

Police arrested Green on Sept. 16 and found $9,000 in a bowling ball bag in her apartment in the 2300 block of Good Hope Road in Southeast. She faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

Marcy Murphy, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, did not comment on whether the names and whereabouts of the buyers are known.

The scheme could have caused problems for federal authorities cracking down on illegal aliens and terrorists.

In 2001, at least four persons were charged in Virginia with aiding some of the hijackers in the September 11 attacks with getting fake driver’s licenses.