Press Release
DEFENDANTS SENTENCED IN DRIVER’S LICENSE SCAM
September 21, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jeffrey H. Sloman, Acting United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, Rick Walker, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, and Anthony V. Mangione, Special Agent in Charge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Office of Investigations, announced that defendant Wesley Philamar, 36, of Miami, was sentenced on Friday, September 18, 2009 on charges of conspiracy to produce identification documents without lawful authority, in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 1028(a)(1), (b)(1)(A)(ii), (c)(3)(A), and (f). Philamar pled guilty to this charge on March 13, 2009.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth A. Marra sentenced Philamar to 20 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 2 years of supervised release. Co-defendant Yvan Bonhomme, 54, of Miramar, pled guilty to the same charge on April 1, 2009 and was sentenced by Judge Marra on July 31, 2009 to 36 months’ imprisonment, to be followed by 3 years of supervised release. A third defendant, Carmino Rossini Santos, Jr., 40, of Pompano Beach, also pled guilty to the same charge on March 13, 2009, and was sentenced by Judge Marra on May 26, 2009 to 3 months’ imprisonment, 3 months’ home detention with electronic monitoring, to be followed by 2 years of supervised release, and a $1000 fine.
These convictions were the result of “Operation Turn Signal.” Operation Turn Signal is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Labor--Office of Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, ICE’s Office of Investigations, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office to investigate and prosecute fraud related to the issuance of immigration documents and Florida driver’s licenses.
According to a factual proffer filed during the pleas, the defendants used five fictitious companies purportedly operating in South Florida to create paperwork falsely representing that their clients were employees of these companies and had applied for visas. In fact, however, the clients were illegal aliens. Thereafter, the aliens presented the false employment documentation received from these companies, along with false U.S. Department of Labor certifications and U.S. work visa application receipts, to the Florida Division of Driver’s Licenses (“DDL”) to receive valid driver’s licenses. The defendants also provided illegal aliens with false U.S. immigration forms for submission with their passports to the DDL. In total, the defendants caused the issuance of at least 500 fraudulent driver’s licenses in both Broward and Palm Beach Counties.
Mr. Sloman commended the investigative efforts of the U.S. Department of Labor and ICE’s Office of Investigations. This case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Randy Katz.
A copy of this press release may be found on the website of the United States Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/fls. Related court documents and information may be found on the website of the District Court for the Southern District of Florida at http://www.flsd.uscourts.gov or on http://pacer.flsd.uscourts.gov.
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