United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner
Eastern District of California
Riverdale Man Pleads Guilty in Fraudulent California Driver’s Licenses Conspiracy
| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE | Monday, November 26, 2012 |
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Docket #: 1:11-cr-00274 LJO |
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FRESNO, Calif. — Armando Solorio Heredia, 33, of Riverdale, pleaded guilty today to conspiring to produce genuine, but fraudulently issued, California driver’s licenses, United States Attorney Benjamin B. Wagner announced.
According to court documents, in April 2007, Heredia obtained an unlawfully issued Class A commercial driver’s license. Heredia provided a cash payment and a DMV application receipt to co-defendant Victor Vasquez, who gave it to co-defendant Alfonso Casarez. Casarez, who worked at the DMV, electronically changed Heredia’s driving records to show that he had fulfilled all the requirements for a Class A license although Heredia did not take or pass the required examinations. This caused the DMV to issue a fraudulent license to Heredia.
According to the plea agreement, between 2007 and 2011, Heredia brokered the sales of seven fraudulently issued Class A commercial and Class C driver’s licenses. Heredia charged the recipients of Class A licenses between $1600 and $1700 and the recipients of Class C licenses between $550 and $700. Heredia kept $50 to $100 of the payment and gave the rest to Vasquez along with the documentation necessary for Casarez to produce the fraudulent licenses.
Heredia is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lawrence J. O’Neill on February 19, 2013. 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, Vasquez and four other co-defendants currently await trial on February 26, 2013. The charges are only allegations and the 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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