Ex-DMV clerk affirms guilt in briberies

A former Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles clerk has pleaded guilty in federal court to accepting thousands of dollars in bribes to unlawfully provide driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Nancy Brown, 28, of Las Vegas, pleaded guilty this week to a federal bribery charge and is to be sentenced on March 6. She faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

"Public corruption, including bribery of public employees, has multiple negative consequences on a community," U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said in a news release. "We will continue to work in conjunction with local and state authorities to prosecute and send to prison persons who commit these types of crimes."

According to the plea agreement, Brown was employed as a front-line clerk at the Nevada DMV on East Sahara Avenue. Her duties included processing applications for driver's licenses.

Brown admitted that from February 2010 through April, she received cash bribes from individuals unlawfully in the United States in exchange for issuing Nevada driver's licenses to them.

Brown used third parties to recruit individuals, and, in most cases, the customers paid the bribe to the third party, who in turn paid Brown, the plea agreement said.

Her customers were instructed to sit in the lobby close to her window, where she would motion to them when she was ready.

The customers obtained the licenses without providing or producing any identifying documents, Brown admitted.

The plea agreement said that Brown unlawfully issued about 214 licenses and charged $1,500 to $3,000 for each one.

In all, Brown admitted that she personally accepted $70,000 to $120,000 in bribes.

Natalie Collins, a spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney's office, said that all of the 214 licenses were canceled and that some were recovered.

Brown is the latest corrupt DMV worker to face criminal charges.

Last year, Marilyn Millender was sentenced to three years of probation and fined $1,000 after she had pleaded guilty to a federal bribery charge.

Millender, who also was a front-line clerk, admitted that she accepted cash in 2007 in exchange for issuing state identification documents.

In 2004, a federal judge sentenced former DMV employee Dalva Flagg to nearly six years in prison for providing unauthorized documents to illegal immigrants in exchange for cash bribes. She admitted accepting more than $300,000 in bribes.

The DMV canceled hundreds of driver's licenses and state identification cards as a result of Flagg's actions.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135.