Registry Audit Detects License Fraud

As a result of an internal audit conducted by the Registry of Motor Vehicles, Massachusetts State Police (MSP) Troopers assigned to the Registry of Motor Vehicles Special Investigation Unit determined that Alexander Brewer, a clerk employed in the Revere branch of the Massachusetts RMV, was fraudulently issuing Massachusetts driver’s licenses and RMV Identification cards. As part of the Registry’s internal investigation, Massachusetts State Police Driver’s Licensing Experts discovered numerous instances of legitimate Massachusetts driver’s licenses and identity cards being issued by Brewer to people who may not have been the true identity holder. This is serious crime which violates federal identity theft laws. The Registry takes a zero tolerance approach when it comes to license fraud and it uses a variety of methods to detect fraudulent license transactions. The Registry goes to great lengths to insure the security and integrity of drivers’ licenses and any employee found to have committed license fraud usually ends up facing federal charges.

In this case the joint state and federal investigation, involving the RMV, Mass. State Police, Boston Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force, and Homeland Security Investigations revealed that commencing approximately December of 2011 to December 2012, Brewer knowingly and willfully issued valid, but fraudulently obtained, Massachusetts driver’s licenses to individuals who were using false identities. Those individuals used legitimate Puerto Rican identity documents in an identity other than their own to obtain the Massachusetts driver’s licenses and, thus, to conceal their true identities. The investigation was initiated when Registry auditors discovered suspicious transactions.

On December 14, 2012, Brewer was interviewed at the Revere, MA Registry Branch office. Brewer made a full confession, admitting his role in issuing Massachusetts driver’s license to individuals utilizing fraudulently obtained but legitimate Puerto Rican identity documents. Brewer admitted to a Special Agent with Homeland Security Investigations that he has knowingly and willfully issued at least 200, but probably more, valid Massachusetts drivers licenses to people who had false paperwork and identities. Brewer accepted $200 per Massachusetts driver’s license issued as payment for his role in the false license scheme.

Brewer knew the people to whom he was issuing the licenses and identification cards were not the people represented on the documents they provided. He, therefore, knowingly and willfully committed license fraud by issuing the licenses. He worked with at least two other individuals who acted as brokers in this scheme. He was paid in cash by the individual brokers who brought “clients” to him in order to obtain licenses and MassDOT identification cards in identities other than their own. Depending on his role and the type of identification document issued, Brewer was paid from $100-$300 per false identification document issued. He is now facing federal document fraud charges in the United States District Court in Boston.

The Registry of Motor Vehicles will undoubtedly be taking action against those who received these fraudulent issued licenses. They will likely be receiving indefinite license revocations for “COMP FRAUD LIC/ID.” In order to clear these revocations, the drivers will have to attend hearings at the Registry’s Special Investigation Unit in Boston.