Former RMV Clerk Sentenced for False RMV Document Conspiracy

BOSTON – A Boston man, who previously worked as a Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) clerk, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Boston for conspiring to produce false RMV identification documents. 

Rommer Valdez, 39, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge William G. Young to five months in prison, three years of supervised release, the first five months of which is to be served in home confinement, forfeiture of $26,200, and a fine of $3,000.  In July 2015, Valdez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to produce a false identification document.

The RMV issues identification documents such as drivers’ licenses, learners’ permits and state identification cards.  To prevent people from obtaining a fraudulent identification document, the RMV has systems to verify whether applicants’ identity information is accurate.  Valdez, who worked as a clerk at the RMV office in Watertown, was responsible for verifying that applicants’ identity documents were valid. 

From December 2010 to December 2012, Valdez participated in a conspiracy to help the customers obtain authentic RMV-issued identification documents that bore their own pictures but other people’s identity information.  Other co-conspirators obtained real identification documents for customers to give the RMV as proof of (false) identity.  Before sending certain customers to the RMV with this proof, the co-conspirators sent Valdez the names, Social Security numbers and dates of birth for these identities and asked him to verify whether this information would pass the RMV’s checks.  Valdez checked the information and reported back to the co-conspirators.  If the information passed, the co-conspirators provided the documents to a customer who later presented them to the RMV (although not necessarily at Valdez’s station) to obtain an identification document in that false identity. 

On other occasions, the co-conspirators sent customers with false identification documents directly to Valdez at the RMV.  When Valdez spotted such a customer, he signaled the customer to approach and submit his or her application and proof of (false) identity.  Valdez then processed the application, knowing that it was fraudulent.  He also let the customer or someone else helping the customer take whatever tests the RMV required, all using the false identity. 

Valdez checked identity information at least 136 times and accepted false proof of identity from customers at least 42 times, in exchange for bribes totaling approximately $26,000. 

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Richard D. McKeon, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; David Hall, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security Services, 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 Investigation, New York Regional Office, made the announcement today.  The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Scott L. Garland, of Ortiz’s Criminal Division.