Chelsea Man Pleads Guilty in Fraudulent Driver's License Scheme

BOSTON – A Chelsea man pleaded guilty today in connection with a scheme to produce fraudulent identification documents.

Edwin Amaurys Parra Suarez, 38, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to produce false identification documents.  U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton scheduled sentencing for Sept. 9, 2015.

From December 2012 through December 2013, Parra bribed a corrupt Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) clerk to issue Massachusetts driver’s licenses to individuals who were not eligible to receive them.  Acting as a broker, Parra sent his purported clients to the Revere RMV to submit their application materials to the corrupt clerk.  In exchange for payment ranging from $100 to $1,000 from Parra, the clerk agreed to overlook the fact that the clients lacked the necessary immigration documents to qualify for a Massachusetts driver’s license.  During the course of the scheme, Parra and his co-conspirators produced at least 29 Massachusetts driver’s licenses in this way.

This plea is the most recent development in a series of investigations involving identity theft and public corruption at the RMV.  The clerk, Alexander Brewer, was sentenced in April 2014 to two years of probation, and he voluntarily forfeited the $60,000 he fraudulently obtained to produce fake licenses.  Another co-conspirator of Brewer’s, Leonel Sanchez, was sentenced in January 2015 to 26 months in prison after pleading guilty to aggravated identity theft.

The charging statute provides a sentence of no greater than five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a fine of $250,000, or twice the gross gain or loss, whichever is greater, restitution and forfeiture.  Actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties.  Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts States Police; David W. Hall, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Boston Field Office; and Cheryl Garcia, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, Labor Racketeering and Fraud Investigations, New York Regional Office, made the announcement today.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.