Albuquerque, NM — An Albuquerque man has been sentenced for running a scheme to fraudulently obtain and sell New Mexico driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.
Eduardo Chavez, 34, pleaded guilty to forgery and possession of an altered, forged, or fictitious license, both felonies. He was sentenced by Second Judicial District Court Judge Alisa Hadfield, and sentenced to three years of supervised probation.
Chavez, who was arrested by the U.S. Border Patrol in November 2014, sold applicants for New Mexico driver’s licenses fraudulent residency documents in exchange for a total fee of $1,000. Three Mexican nationals were also arrested in connection with the case. Oswin Rubery Lone-Perez, Federico Pacheco-Hernandez and Juan P. Carillo, all undocumented immigrants, drove to New Mexico from Georgia in order to fraudulently obtain New Mexico driver’s licenses.
The fraudulent documents provided by Chavez included water and power bills, as well as a None for the Road DWI Awareness Certificate.
This case was jointly investigated by the Tax Fraud Investigation Division of the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department, the U.S. Border Patrol and the New Mexico State Police.
New Mexicans can call the MVD Fraud Hotline (1-866-750-4833) or e-mail zero.fraud@state.nm.us to report any suspected fraud or forgery.
Information from New Mexico Tax and Revenue Department