Former MVA Employee Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Fraudulently Produce and Sell Maryland Driver’s Licenses
Accepted Bribes to Issue Licenses to Applicants Who Had Failed the Written and Driving Tests
Greenbelt, Maryland - Michael Anthony Peters, Jr., age 29, of Riverdale, Maryland pleaded guilty today to a conspiracy to produce and sell Maryland driver’s licenses without lawful authority.
The guilty plea was announced by United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein; Special Agent in Charge William Winter of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI); and John Kuo, Administrator of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration - Investigation and Security Services Division.
“Michael Anthony Peters violated the public's trust and risked endangering our community by producing and issuing Maryland driver’s licenses to individuals who could not or were not willing to legitimately pass the required MVA examination,” said HSI Baltimore Special Agent in Charge William Winter. “This type of fraud poses a serious security vulnerability and could put the security of our communities and even our country at risk.”
According to his plea agreement, Peters was an employee of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) assigned to the Largo Branch. Peters’ duties included the issuance of Maryland driver’s licenses. Peters admitted that from July through October 2007, he received payment in exchange for producing and issuing Maryland driver’s licenses to individuals whom he knew had not passed the required tests. Many of these individuals were illegal aliens.
According to his plea agreement, Peters typically received approximately $300 as a bribe for each non-commercial driver’s license and $400 as a bribe for each commercial driver’s license he issued. Peters falsified MVA records to state that the applicants had passed the required tests and issued driver’s licenses in their names. Over the course of the conspiracy, Peters produced at least 40 driver’s licenses without lawful authority.
Peters faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison followed by three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. As part of his plea agreement, Peters will be required to pay restitution of $12,000. U.S. District Judge Roger W. Titus has scheduled sentencing for December 18, 2012 at 9:00 a.m.
United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein praised HSI Baltimore and the MVA Investigation and Security Services Division their work in the investigation. Mr. Rosenstein thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert K. Hur, who is prosecuting the case.
