5 individuals accused of obtaining driver licenses for 600+ ineligible applicants, collected at least hundreds of thousands of dollars involving Massachusetts, New York, Connecticut

BOSTON – An indictment was unsealed yesterday charging five individuals with conspiring to obtain driver’s licenses for ineligible applicants, principally undocumented individuals without legal status residing in the United States (the customers).  

            According to the Massachusetts Department of Justice, the following defendants have been indicted on one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents, two counts of possession with intent to use or transfer unlawfully identification documents and one count of furnishing a false passport to another for use:

·       Edvan Fernandes Alves De Andrade, 34, formerly of Worcester, currently of Brazil;

·       Leonel Texeiera De Souza Junior, 38, formerly of Milford, currently of Brazil;

·       Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, 26, of Boston;

·       Cesar Agusto Martin Reis, 28, of Waterbury, Conn; and

·       Helbert Costa Generoso, 39, of Danbury, Conn.

            Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, Cesar Agusto Martin Reis and Helbert Costa Generoso were arrested, and appeared in federal court in Worcester for an initial appearance. Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade was ordered detained pending trial. Cesar Agusto Martin Reis and Helbert Costa Generoso were ordered detained pending a detention hearing on Dec. 16, 2024.

            According to the charging document, the defendants conspired, from in or about November 2020 through in or about September 2024, to fraudulently procure driver’s licenses for customers who resided in states that prohibited undocumented individuals from obtaining driver’s licenses. Prior to July 2023, undocumented individuals residing in Massachusetts were not permitted to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses. Beginning in 2019, undocumented individuals residing in New York became eligible to obtain New York driver’s licenses. The defendants allegedly conspired to fraudulently obtain New York driver’s licenses for customers who did not reside in New York, including Massachusetts residents, and after July 2023 they also conspired to fraudulently obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for customers who did not reside in Massachusetts. The defendants allegedly typically charged the customers approximately $1,400 to obtain the driver’s licenses.

            In New York, before obtaining a driver’s license, applicants were required to pass a written permit test and complete driver’s education coursework from a New York driving school.  The New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) required online permit test-takers to allow the NY DMV to take pictures of the test-takers, with a web camera, during the test.  This was to ensure that the test-taker was the applicant, and that there was not a person sitting with and helping the applicant with the test.  

            To avoid the customers having to take the permit tests, the defendants allegedly conspired to obtain, from the customers, several pictures of the customers, sitting down, making it look as if the customers were taking the tests. The defendants then allegedly completed the permit tests for the customers online, and during the tests, when prompted by the NY DMV, caused the pictures that the customers took of themselves to be uploaded, purporting to show that it was the customers who were taking the tests, not the defendants. The defendants also allegedly created fraudulent driver’s education certificates of completion, purportedly from New York driving schools, forged the signatures of driving school staff on the fake certificates, and gave these documents to the customers to provide to the NY DMV.

            The NY DMV also required that applicants appear at a NY DMV location and provide documents to prove their identity and residence in New York. The defendants and other co-conspirators allegedly conspired to meet the customers who were Massachusetts residents at locations in Massachusetts, and drove them to NY DMV branch locations, typically several customers at a time. When they arrived at the NY DMV locations, the defendants allegedly gave the customers fraudulent documents falsely purporting to demonstrate that the customers resided in New York. The customers provided these fake records to the NY DMV staff, and the NY DMV relied on the misrepresentations to issue New York driving permits to the customers. The defendants allegedly arranged for the NY DMV to mail the permits to locations in New York that were controlled by the defendants, who then provided the permits in hand to the customers.  The defendants allegedly scheduled road driving license tests for the customers with the NY DMV, and drove the customers again to New York, where the customers took the road tests. If the customers passed the tests, the NY DMV mailed the driver’s licenses to addresses in New York, which the defendants allegedly controlled, and the defendants and other co-conspirators then provided the licenses to the customers. 

            The defendants allegedly conspired to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses for out-of-state residents, in generally the same manner as they obtained the New York licenses for Massachusetts residents. In Massachusetts, it is alleged that the defendants conspired to fraudulently obtain purported foreign passports to provide to the customers to use as proof of identity with the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles (MA RMV), in support of customer driver’s license applications.

            Collectively, the defendants allegedly conspired to fraudulently apply for licenses for more than 1,000 customers, obtained licenses for more than 600 of customers and collected at least hundreds of thousands of dollars.   

            The investigation remains ongoing.

            The charges of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents, and possession with intent to use or transfer unlawfully identification documents, carry up to five years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. The charge of furnishing a false passport to another for use carries up to up to 10 years in prison, supervised release of up to three years and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.

            United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Kelly Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement. Valuable assistance was provided by the NY DMV Division of Field Investigation, the Boston, Danbury (Conn.) and Waterbury Police Departments, the Bridgeport Branch Office of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Connecticut and Offices of the New York State Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Brendan O’Shea of the Worcester Branch Office is prosecuting the case.