Four Department of Driver Services employees in Georgia (similar to the Florida DMV) were charged with the federal crimes of identity theft and conspiracy to commit fraud after allegedly issuing false driver’s licenses to over 130 illegal immigrants. According to an article at AJC.com, the illegal immigrants paid $7,000 – $8,000 to obtain a Georgia driver’s license without having to take any tests or show proof of residency.
Additionally, the federal criminal defendants are also charged with issuing commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) to themselves and one other person. A CDL allows a person to drive semi trucks or commercial buses professionally. Normally, a person has to take a test prior to obtaining a CDL to make sure the applicant can operate a semi truck or bus and understands the rules and regulations governing semi truck drivers. According to the federal indictment, the defendants manually recorded passing scores into the system for the CDL recipients bypassing the testing requirement. The recipients then went on to obtain jobs as bus drivers in 2007 for MARTA, which is the public transportation system in the Atlanta area.