Fl. DMV Employee Allegedly Sold Dozens Of Phony Driver's Licenses To Illegal Migrants
OPA-LOCKA (CBSMiami) – A state employee has been arrested for selling Florida driver's licenses to more than three dozen illegal migrants.
The Florida Highway Patrol charged 46-year old Tamara Burns-Sutphen of Miami, with 40 counts each of Driver's License Fraud and Official Misconduct.
According to the arrest report, all the illegal migrants had to do was contact a man who went by the names "Blue" and "Chong." He then sent them to the Opa-Locka driver's license office, where he arranged for Burns-Sutphen to issue an official license that indicated the illegals were actually U.S. citizens.
The investigation began a year ago when a co-worker noticed that Burns-Sutphen wasn't scanning documents properly. An investigation by the Florida Department of Motor Vehicles and the Florida Highway Patrol discovered 39 fraudulent driver's licenses had been issued by Burns-Sutphen over the last two-and-a-half years. The DMV employee is alleged to have collected more than $25,000 for the bogus licenses during that time.
Witnesses told investigators they paid between $2,500 and $3,000 for their phony license.
Burns-Sutphen is also charged with one count of organized fraud.