Three people were sentenced to prison in a scheme that involved former Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration workers selling bogus driver’s licenses. Federal prosecutors said the conspirators worked out of a Prince George’s County MVA branch and sold dozens of driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants and criminals who wished to hide their identities.
The conspirators sold the documents for more than $2,000 apiece.
U.S. District Judge Alexander Williams on Friday sentenced former MVA employees Evita Baker, 25, of Forestville, and Avanti Blackwell, 26, of Accokeek, to 15 months in prison. O’Neil Whyte, 39, of Springfield Gardens, N.Y., was sentenced to 30 months.
All three will have to forfeit more than $210,000 in proceeds from the scheme.
An Upper Marlboro couple have already pleaded guilty to the crimes. Patrick Gordon, 34, was sentenced to more than three years, and his wife, Natalie Palmer, 37, was sentenced to four years.
According to prosecutors, Blackwell left the Largo Branch of the MVA and recruited Baker
into the scheme.
Whyte, Gordon and Palmer met with the prospective Maryland driver’s license applicants. The information was forwarded to Blackwell, who filled out the information that the applicants wished to appear on the licenses.
Blackwell forwarded information on index cards to Baker in advance of her Saturday shifts at the Largo branch.
The conspirators drove the clients to the DMV and instructed them what to do.
Instead of changing the “Now Serving” number, Baker would call out the name on the index card, then issue the license, no questions asked.
She was paid about $1,500 per card, prosecutors said.
Afterward, Baker and Blackwell would meet at a gas station and split the money evenly.
Authorities began investigating the case after Whyte obtained four Maryland driver’s licenses and identification card for himself in 2008. He used one of the fake cards to apply for United States passport for someone else.
In 2009, an undercover U.S. Secret Service agent approached Baker and slipped her a notepad with a fictitious name and address, and $1,000 in cash hidden between the pages, charging papers said. Baker didn’t ask for supporting documentation, and the agent watched as she place the money, plus a $45 administrative fee, into a black handbag.
