Black Market Licenses Lead To 40 Indictments

New Jersey authorities say 40 people, including six former clerks at the state Motor Vehicle Commission, participated in a ring that illegally sold New Jersey's digital driver licenses that were explicitly designed to guard against fraud.

The state Attorney General's office says the ring sold licenses mostly to foreign nationals who were not eligible to receive them for $2,500 to $7,000 apiece.

Those charged include 21 customers and 13 intermediaries who would drum up business.

The new licenses are harder to get, in part, because they require numerous different forms of identification to establish a person's identity. Authorities say the ring let customers bypass those requirements and pay cash for a license.

The ring operated at motor vehicle offices in Lodi, East Orange, Edison, Jersey City, and North Bergen.

The following defendants were charged in the indictments related to the alleged criminal license brokering rings involving clerks at the five motor vehicle agencies: (Attorney General's office)

LODI MOTOR VEHICLE AGENCY

MVC Clerk

Anne Marie Manfredonia, 43, of Little Ferry

Broker

Hildeberto Salinas, 43, of Carlstadt

Customers

1. Abraham Chali, aka Carlos Jacobo, 26, of Cliffside Park

2. Miguel G. Sacoto, 35, of Jersey City

3. Melvin Lita, aka Arben Lita, 33, of Fair Lawn

4. (Juan) Pablo Gavilanez, 26, of Irvington

5. Jose Pelaez, 26, of Bloomfield

6. Gustavo Pamavilla, 22, of Irvington

7. Roberto Yumbla, 27, of Irvington

8. Ana Altamirano, 39, of Newark

9. Ariolfo Altamirano, 42, of Newark

10. Luz Alvarez, 32, of Hackensack

11. Omar Avila, 33, of Newark

12. Claudio Angamarca, 26, of Newark

13. Aurelio Aju-Chitic, 31, of Fairview

14. Sandra Avendano-Marin, 26, South Hackensack

EAST ORANGE MOTOR VEHICLE AGENCY

Indictment #1

MVC Clerk

Laquanda Murray, 28, of Newark

Middlemen

Jason P. Thomas, 28, of Irvington, a former MVC clerk

Tyrone Q. Canada, 26, of Hillside, a former MVC clerk

Brokers

Martin A. Martinez, 53, of Newark. In a separate case, Martinez was indicted on Nov. 10 on first-degree charges of conspiracy and money laundering as a result of an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice into an alleged conspiracy to defraud the federally funded Women, Infants and Children nutrition program of more than $1 million using fraudulent vouchers.

Antonio Vasquez, 40, of Hillside

Runners

1. Virginia Martinez, 41, of Somerville

2. Guillermo “Willie” Prieto, 50, of North Bergen

3. Rogerio DaSilva, 36, of Cliffside

4. Gustavo Valencia, 68, of Morris Township

5. Domingos Bonela, 48, of Kenilworth

Indictment # 2

MVC Clerk

Rashaan A. Smith, 31, of Irvington

Middlemen

Jason P. Thomas (also charged in East Orange Indictment #1 above)