Former Beltsville MVA Employee Sentenced for Selling Fraudulent Maryland Identification Documents

Greenbelt, Maryland - U.S. District Judge Peter J. Messitte sentenced former Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration (MVA) employee Dodson Robey, age 36, of Hyattsville, Maryland today to two years in prison followed by two years of supervised release for conspiracy to produce and transfer over 100 unlawfully produced identification documents issued by the MVA, announced United States Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Judge Messitte also ordered Robey to pay a $20,000 fine.

According to the plea agreement, Robey worked at the Beltsville Branch of the MVA where he issued driver’s licenses and identification cards. Robey knew co-defendant Margentina Esther Pinilla, a former employee of the MVA’s Beltsville Branch, and Valentin Roosevelt Milstein, the owner of Val’s Driving School, located in Wheaton Maryland. Val’s Driving School offered certified driver instruction courses.

From July 2004 to April 2005, Milstein met with over 100 prospective MVA identification card applicants at Val’s Driving School, and received monies from the applicants in return for agreeing to arrange for the applicants to receive unlawfully produced Maryland identification cards from Robey. Similarly, Pinilla met with such applicants at her apartment and received monies from them in return for agreeing to arrange for the applicants to receive over 12 unlawfully produced Maryland identification cards from Robey. Milstein and Pinilla gave Robey a portion of the monies they received from the applicants. Robey used his position at MVA to meet with over 100 applicants who wanted to obtain unlawfully produced Maryland identification cards.

Valentin Roosevelt Milstein, age 62, of Silver Spring, Maryland, pleaded guilty to transfer of an identification document produced without lawful authority and faces a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison at his sentencing, which has not yet been set. Margentina Esther Pinilla, age 43, also of Silver Spring, pleaded guilty to the conspiracy and was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

United States Attorney Rod J. Rosenstein thanked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Internal Investigations Section of the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration Investigation and Security Services Division for their investigative work. The case originated with information provided by the MVA. Mr. Rosenstein commended Assistant United States Attorneys Harry M. Gruber and Steven Dunne, who prosecuted the case.