Two senior citizens have been sentenced today for acting as brokers in a scheme involving a former clerk at the Edison Motor Vehicle Commission (MVC) agency to illegally sell New Jersey digital driver’s licenses to unauthorized people. The clerk and a third broker have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.

From left to right: Ricardo Jalil and Gustavo Valencia (NJ Office of the Attorney General)
From left to right: Ricardo Jalil and Gustavo Valencia (NJ Office of the Attorney General)
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Gustavo Valencia has sentenced to six years in state prison, including two years of parole ineligibility.

The 70-year-old admits he brokered illegal sales of driver’s licenses out of both the Edison and the East Orange MVC agencies.

He also admits receiving thousands of dollars for his role in the scheme to renew licenses for people without the required six points of identification.

Ricardo Jalil has been sentenced today to 300 days in jail and two years of probation. The 65-year-old says he conspired with his wife, Martha Jalil, and others, including a former clerk at the Edison Motor Vehicle Agency, Lorena Escobar, to help renew licenses for people who were in the country illegally and did not have the required six points of identification.

“We must shut down the black market for New Jersey driver’s licenses, because we cannot afford to have dangerous drivers, con artists and those who may wish to hurt us obtaining this powerful form of identification through fraud,” says State Attorney General Jeff Chiesa. “We will continue to catch those who traffic in illicit licenses using the MVC’s cutting-edge Facial Scrub technology and this type of investigation.”

Last month, Martha Jalil pleaded guilty to conspiracy, admitting that she conspired with Escobar and others to provide driver’s licenses to unauthorized persons in return for cash. Under her plea agreement, the state will recommend that she be sentenced to seven years in state prison. She is scheduled for sentencing on April 12.

“The message here is clear.  People who seek to profit from this type of document fraud will wind up behind bars,” explains Director Elie Honig of the Division of Criminal Justice. “We are building on our working relationship with the MVC to detect and prosecute these crimes.”

Escobar, the former clerk who conspired in the scheme at the Edison MVC, pleaded guilty on March 24, 2010 to conspiracy. Chiesa says the state will recommend that she be sentenced to state prison. She is scheduled to be sentenced on April 12.  Her sentencing had been adjourned because she had to cooperate with the state and was going to testify at Valencia’s trial.

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