DMV employee arrested for providing driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants

A 28-year-old Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles employee was arrested last week on federal bribery charges for providing driver's licenses to illegal immigrants, officials with the U.S. Attorney District of Nevada's office said Monday.

Las Vegan Nancy Brown provided illegal immigrants with 187 fraudulent state driver's licenses at the DMV on Sahara Avenue near Eastern Avenue, federal officials said.

Brown was arrested Thursday but released the next day on a personal recognizance bond authorized by U.S. Magistrate Judge George Foley Jr. A preliminary hearing is set for May 27.

Officials said Brown worked with others who would direct illegal immigrants to her place of work. The service cost the illegal immigrants between $1,700 and $3,000 per license, officials said.

Officials did not disclose how much Brown, a technician, is alleged to have made through the transactions.

Claude Arnold, a special agent for the Department of Homeland Security based in Los Angeles, which covers Las Vegas, said Brown's case was handled by federal officials because it's a matter of national security.

"This could be taken advantage of not just by the illegal immigrants who want to work but by a terrorist who wants to get on an aircraft," Brown said.

He added that fraud involving DMV officials is often seen nationwide.

Arnold said Brown's charges have a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. He wouldn't answer any questions specifically related to Brown's case because the matter is ongoing.

Brown was hired by the DMV in 2007. Several state DMV officials reached Monday declined to comment.

In a statement released last week, officials said the fraudulent licenses are being canceled.

The agency is sending certified letters to the license holders and is alerting other licensing agencies.

"We are always on the alert for fraudulent activities both inside and outside the department," DMV Director Bruce Breslow said in the statement.

According to the criminal complaint against Brown, the licenses were issued between June 10 and April 21.

As a DMV technician, Brown was responsible for verifying documentation such as birth certificates or Social Security numbers that were needed to receive a driver's license.

The report said that Brown would indicate illegal immigrants had acceptable Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement documents that were valid for at least four years, while also indicating the applicants didn't have Social Security numbers.

By saying the applicants didn't have Social Security numbers, it allowed her to bypass protocols in the DMV system, the report said.

Illegal immigrants then would get their temporary licenses, but Brown wouldn't turn in the DMV forms to the agency as is required, the report said. Of the 187 fraudulent licenses that were handed out, the report said, the DMV was able to collect only eight of the forms processed by Brown.

The report said that a special agent with the Department of Homeland Security contacted an illegal immigrant who received a driver's license from Brown.

The woman told the agent that she paid a man $3,000 and that he instructed her to go to Brown's workplace and sit at the desk where she worked.

The immigrant told the agent she was processed by Brown. Two weeks later, the immigrant received her license in the mail.

The immigrant received a one-year U.S. work permit for cooperating in the investigation, the report said.

The report added that in February, the Department of Homeland Security installed a camera over Brown's desk. The camera caught 10 of Brown's illegal transactions, the report said.

In February 2010, former DMV employee Marilyn D. Millender was sentenced to three years of probation after pleading guilty to bribery, and she was sentenced to six months in a federal halfway house for her role in selling identification documents to a small number of illegal immigrants in 2007.

In August 2004, former DMV employee Dalva Flagg pleaded guilty to five felonies and admitted to accepting more than $300,000 in bribes. She was sentenced to six years in prison for providing unauthorized documents to illegal immigrants between 2000 and 2002.

Contact reporter Antonio Planas at aplanas@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638.