Eight people, including two state employees, have been arrested in Florida for selling thousands of fraudulent driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants, including commercial licenses to operate tractor-trailers.
The arrests were announced on Thursday, after a joint investigation by the Bay County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations, alleging two state workers were issuing licenses without the required testing, in exchange for cash payments arranged through intermediaries.
“Putting untested, unqualified drivers, especially those with commercial licenses, on our roads is an unacceptable risk to every family in the state,” Bay County Sheriff Tommy Ford said during a news conference on Thursday.
“These licenses were essentially sold, not earned. That means we have individuals on the road, possibly operating tractor-trailers, who never demonstrated the basic skills to do so safely. It’s not a paperwork issue, it’s a direct threat to highway safety and a betrayal of the public trust.”
Bay County is in Northwest Florida.
Two Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles (FLHSMV) employees were arrested, both of Panama City, including Bancelie Velazco and Demetrius Smith.
Ford said the scheme to sell fraudulent licenses occurred for a period of at least two years. Investigators did not specify how many of the licenses issued by Velazco and Smith were for commercial tractor-trailer operators.
Velazco and Smith were each charged with nine and eight counts, respectively, for issuing unlawful driver’s license, and nine and eight counts, respectively, of official misconduct.
Authorities also seized $120,000 from the homes of the two arrested.
Velazco and Smith allegedly helped undocumented migrants skip steps and proper testing at the FLHSMV location in Bay County then issued the driver’s licenses in exchange for cash or a Cash App transaction.
The individuals coming to Velazco and Smith to obtain their driver’s licenses were doing so through third parties operating as intermediaries, including a company called CubaMax, located in Callaway, Florida, according to a Facebook post from the Bay Country Sheriff’s Office.
“A search warrant was executed yesterday at a business in Callaway called CubaMax, which is involved in processing immigration documents,” Cook said.
Several individuals were arrested for their alleged roles as intermediaries in the scheme. They include Panama City residents, Niurbis Rosales, owner of CubaMax, for fraud and official misconduct, and CubaMax employee, Zoila Gonzalez-Pena, for the same charges.
Other alleged intermediaries arrested include Leonardo Gutierrez, Hung Du and Isbrieta Parra.
Mirna Fernandez, also of Panama City, was also arrested on a charge of unlawful possession of a driver’s license. Authorities said she allegedly fraudulently obtained her driver’s license and paid to receive a passing grade on her exam and skills exam through the scheme.
