a day ago
3-year illegal drivers license scheme unveils public corruption in Bay County
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – 'Evidence suggests that hundreds, if not more than a thousand, fraudulent driver's licenses were issued as part of this scheme,' Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said.
Public corruption brought Attorney General James Uthmeier to Bay County on Thursday.
Officials say two Bay County tax collectors' office employees were providing undocumented individuals with driver's licenses in return for compensation.
The employees identified as Bancelie Velazco and Demetrius Smith allegedly skipped steps and proper testing, then issued the licenses in exchange for cash or a 'Cash App' transaction.
Ford believes people from all over the state traveled here to buy the licenses, and that the illicit activity had been happening for around 3 years.
However, Bay County Tax Collector Chuck Perdue says they only noticed the suspicious activity last month, after reviewing April's month-end reports.
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Perdue says he immediately contacted Ford's office.
'I was starting to review our month-end reports, and I was seeing where, you know, on average, of my 80 employees, an employee on average during the month, will do 20 to 25 road exams. I had one employee, Mr. Smith, who did 295 exams in one month. So those exams take about 20 minutes each. So, doing the math, there's not that many work hours in the week, right?' Tax Collector Chuck Perdue said.
Sheriff Ford says the investigation has been ongoing for around a month, with the majority of headway being made on Wednesday. So far, there have been eight arrests, and officials have seized around $120,000 from the illicit proceedings.
Some of the arrests were individuals caught with fraudulent licenses, and others were people acting as brokers. Officials cited the involvement of a Callaway business called 'Cubamax'.
'The investigation also allowed us to arrest five additional individuals who are acting as brokers, running local businesses that claim to assist with immigration paperwork but instead arranged illegal transactions and funneled aliens from as far away as Miami to obtain licenses fraudulently,' Ford added.
Uthmeier and several others blamed the Biden administration for the illegal activity.
'I think today is yet another example of how the Biden border policy puts American families at risk. Here you've got hundreds of aliens that are cheating, that are breaking the law, that are buying driver's licenses without taking the test, getting on the roads, putting everybody in danger. So, you know, if there's any silver lining to come out of this terrible discovery, it's that law enforcement worked very well together. Continued to follow the breadcrumbs and ultimately uncovered, you know, pretty widespread and advanced operation,' Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said.
Officials said this is just the start of this investigation.
Perdue says it's unclear at this time if there will be any repercussions for individuals responsible for supervising the employees.
Sheriff's officials and Homeland Security Investigations will be working with the Highway Patrol and other agencies to track down the fraudulent driver's licenses. They say the fault lies with illegal immigrants who are adding pressure to the system.
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