04-06-05 -- Love, Linda -- Sentencing -- News Release

State Motor Vehicles Employee Sentenced to 30 Months in Prison for Producing Hundreds of Fraudulent Licenses

CAMDEN - A former New Jersey Motor Vehicles Commission employee was sentenced today to 30 months in federal prison for conspiring with others to produce approximately 750 fraudulent driver's licenses for which she received $300 each, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced.

U.S. District Judge Freda L. Wolfson also fined Linda Love, 45, of Willingboro, $1,000 and ordered her to surrender to the federal Bureau of Prisons by June 6 to begin serving her sentence.

Love pleaded guilty on Sept. 8, 2004, to one count of conspiracy to produce false identification documents. She admitted then that she participated in a scheme with other employees of the former Division of Motor Vehicles, as well as non-employees, to produce driver's licenses for individuals not otherwise entitled to them.

Love, who worked as an examination technician at the MVC's Driver Testing Center in Mount Holly, admitted to permitting certain individuals to take multiple written examinations for driver's licenses for other individuals. Love admitted to fraudulently generating approximately 750 driver's licenses - approximately five every week - over a three-year period and receiving cash payments of about $300 for each one.

Love remains free on $50,000 bail. She was originally charged in a criminal Complaint on Nov. 5, 2003. An MVC employee for more than 10 years, Love was terminated from her position following the filing of federal charges.

Love was among 11 MVC employees since January 2004 to plead guilty in federal court in connection with the driver's license fraud scheme, in which employees of the state agency and non-employees received hundreds of thousands of dollars to produce and procure licenses for individuals who were not entitled to them.

Others pleading guilty, all of whom await sentencing, were:

• Tonya Horn, 33, formerly of Scotch Plains and now of Easton, Pa., a service representative of the Springfield MVC office, admitted that she processed driver permits and licenses without ever having spoken with the respective applicants; she received between $100 and $150 for each of more than 100 fraudulent licenses.

• Marcella Lewis, 36, of Plainfield, an examination technician at the MVC office in Elizabeth, admitted to permitting certain individuals to take multiple written examinations for driver's licenses for other individuals, and receiving $150 for each of more than 100 fraudulent licenses.

• Sheilina D. Moore, 28, of Clementon, a customer service representative at the MVC Mount Holly office, admitted receiving between $100 and $200 for each of more than 100 bogus licenses she helped produce.

• Linda Carlo, 41, of Newark, a customer service representative at the MVC Springfield office, admitted receiving $100 for each of more than 100 bogus licenses she helped produce.

• Anita Feathers, 53, of Sloatzburg, N.Y., also a customer service representative at the MVC Springfield office, admitted receiving $100 for each bogus license she helped produce.

• Barbara Carter, 52, of Roselle Park, a customer service representative at DMV Plus, a private agency in Springfield, admitted receiving $500 for each bogus license and MVC identification card she conspired to produce with MVC employees at the Springfield office.

• Rita Peterson, 40, of Newark, a customer service representative at the MVC Springfield office, admitted receiving $100 for each bogus license she helped produce.

• Lori Awan, 39, of North Plainfield, a customer service representative at the MVC Springfield office, admitted receiving $100 for each fraudulent license she helped generate.

• Lauren Joyce, 32, of Union Township, Union County, an MVC customer service representative at the Springfield office, admitted receiving up to $150 for each license she helped to fraudulently produce.

• Juvenal Galarza, a/k/a "Uncle Johnny," 65, of Belleville, an owner of a driving school in Harrison, admitted to having fraudulently transferred between 25 and 99 driver's licenses to illegal aliens and to receiving cash payments up to $2,000 for each such license; Galarza stated that he made cash payments of $100 to $300 to each MVC employee who assisted in fraudulently generating a particular license.

Christie credited Special Agents of the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Newark, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge Joseph Billy, Jr., for their work in developing the case MVC cases. The Government is represented by Assistant U.S. Attorney Brian R. Howe of the U.S. Attorney's Special Prosecutions Unit in Newark.

Defense Attorney: Mario J. D'Alfonso, Esq. Cherry Hill