Friday, February 21, 2014

New Jersey continues crackdown on forged IDs and records. No word if presidential candidates will are exempt from investigations

02/21/2014


TRENTON — The state has charged 69 new defendants in the last year with falsifying records or forgery in connection with altered driver licenses or state-issued ID cards, acting Attorney General John J. Hoffman said Thursday.

The charges arise from the state’s high-tech “Operation Facial Scrub,” which digitally analyzes license and ID photos to detect fakes.

Among the 69 new charges, Neale M. Newenhouse, 75, of Passaic, who has a felony record that includes a four-year prison term for receiving stolen property, allegedly used the identity of a man who was deceased — John Clifford — to hide his criminal past. He fraudulently obtained a driver’s license in the name of John Clifford and tried to use that alias when he was later arrested, Hoffman said.

The attorney general also announced that of 38 defendants charged in the first round of arrests a year ago, seven have pleaded guilty.

They included:

 -- Felix M. Martinez, 39, of Passaic., a registered sex offender with four felony convictions, who obtained a non-driver’s identification in a false name from the Motor Vehicle Commission because he was trying to evade an arrest warrant. He pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and was sentenced to four years in state prison.

-- Robert H. Brown, 62, of Paterson, who obtained a license to drive tanker-trucks in the name of a disabled relative. He fraudulently used the identity of the relative in an attempt to obtain disability benefits in California. Brown pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and served nearly six months in jail. He remains on probation.

-- Raymond Pompey, 51, of Hackensack, who obtained a license to drive a commercial bus in the name of a deceased man — Edward Rivers — after his license was suspended six times for traffic infractions and failing to appear in court. He worked as a bus driver for Coach USA using the false name. He also has a felony record for identity theft, fraud and forgery. Pompey pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and served two months in jail. He remains on probation.



source

No comments: