FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	Monday, September 10, 2012
Docket #: 1:11-cr-00274 LJO

FRESNO, Calif. — Angel Ociris Gutierrez, 27, of Greenfield, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to unlawfully produce fraudulently issued California driver’s licenses, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced today.

According to court documents, in June 2007, Gutierrez paid former DMV employee Alfonso Casarez to change his DMV records to show that he had passed the required tests to obtain a California Class A commercial driver’s license. Gutierrez had not taken or passed the required DMV written or behind-the-wheel examinations. Within a month, Gutierrez received a genuine Class A commercial driver’s license from the DMV via U.S. mail. Gutierrez then asked Casarez to add a “tanks” driving endorsement to the Class A commercial driver’s license, which he did.

According to court documents, between 2007 and 2010 Gutierrez arranged for 10 other individuals to receive of Class A commercial and Class C driver’s licenses without having to pass the required tests. He took the DMV application receipt and a cash payment from the recipients. After keeping a portion for himself, he would pass the information and payment to Casarez.

Gutierrez is scheduled to be sentenced by United States District Court Judge O’Neill on February 25, 2013 at 8:30 a.m. He faces a maximum statutory penalty of five years in prison. The actual sentence, however, will be determined at the discretion of the court after consideration of any applicable statutory factors and the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, which take into account a number of variables.

Casarez and six others currently await trial on February 26, 2013. The charges against them are only allegations and these defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

This case is the product of an investigation by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Investigations Division, Office of Internal Affairs. Assistant United States Attorneys Henry Z. Carbajal III and Grant B. Rabenn are prosecuting the case.

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