A Manassas, Virginia, man has pleaded guilty Tuesday in a scheme to unlawfully provide and transfer Maryland driver’s licenses, which involved bribing a pair of employees at the state’s Motor Vehicle Administration.
People who couldn’t legally obtain a Maryland license paid 34-year-old Warner Antonio Portillo between $800-$5,000 in cash so he could get them the IDs, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Maryland said in a release Tuesday.
Portillo helped unlawfully make and transfer at least 276 Maryland driver’s licenses.
Between at least July 2015 and March 2016, prosecutors said Portillo worked with others, including two employees in the Largo branch office of Maryland’s Motor Vehicle Administration, in the scheme.
In order to have the licenses made, Portillo admitted that he gave his MVA conspirators his applicants’ information for the licenses, according to prosecutors. That also meant giving fake documents needed for the process, such as proof of Maryland residency. Prosecutors said Portillo’s applicants included people who were in the U.S. illegally.
Portillo would then help the applicants get to the Largo branch office and directed them to the MVA employees who worked with him, prosecutors said. He bribed his MVA conspirators between $500-$1,000 in cash for each unlawfully made license given to an applicant.
Portillo faces up to 15 years in prison for the scheme, and he must pay at least $276,000, which prosecutors said includes the assets made from or obtained by Portillo as a result of the scheme.
He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 19.
