Defendants allegedly conspired to apply for licenses through false applications
BOSTON — A federal indictment unsealed on December 11, 2024, charges five individuals with participating in a conspiracy to fraudulently secure driver’s licenses for undocumented individuals and out-of-state residents through false applications in New York and Massachusetts.
The Indicted Individuals
According to the indictment, each of the following defendants have been charged with one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents, two counts of possession with intent to use or transfer unlawfully identification documents and one count of furnishing a false passport to another for use:
- Edvan Fernandes Alves De Andrade, 34, formerly of Worcester, now in Brazil
- Leonel Texeiera De Souza Junior, 38, formerly of Milford, now in Brazil
- Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, 26, of Boston
- Cesar Agusto Martin Reis, 28, of Waterbury, Conn.
- Helbert Costa Generoso, 39, of Danbury, Conn.
Scheme Targeted Massachusetts RMV & New York DMV
From November 2020 to September 2024, the defendants allegedly orchestrated a fraudulent operation to obtain driver’s licenses for undocumented residents and out-of-state applicants. This included circumventing application processes in New York and Massachusetts by fabricating residency documents, faking permit test results, and forging driver’s education certificates.
In order to obtain these driver’s licenses, the defendants reportedly:
- Faked online permit test participation by submitting staged applicant photos.
- Created fraudulent driver’s education certificates.
- Transported Massachusetts-based clients to New York DMV offices.
- Submitted fabricated residency documents to DMV officials.
- Arranged for licenses to be mailed to addresses they controlled.
The following is how the Department of Justice explained the process:
“In New York, before obtaining a driver’s license, applicants were required to pass a written permit test and complete driver’s education coursework from a New York driving school. The New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV) required online permit test-takers to allow the NY DMV to take pictures of the test-takers, with a web camera, during the test. This was to ensure that the test-taker was the applicant, and that there was not a person sitting with and helping the applicant with the test.
To avoid the customers having to take the permit tests, the defendants allegedly conspired to obtain, from the customers, several pictures of the customers, sitting down, making it look as if the customers were taking the tests. The defendants then allegedly completed the permit tests for the customers online, and during the tests, when prompted by the NY DMV, caused the pictures that the customers took of themselves to be uploaded, purporting to show that it was the customers who were taking the tests, not the defendants. The defendants also allegedly created fraudulent driver’s education certificates of completion, purportedly from New York driving schools, forged the signatures of driving school staff on the fake certificates, and gave these documents to the customers to provide to the NY DMV.
The NY DMV also required that applicants appear at a NY DMV location and provide documents to prove their identity and residence in New York. The defendants and other co-conspirators allegedly conspired to meet the customers who were Massachusetts residents at locations in Massachusetts, and drove them to NY DMV branch locations, typically several customers at a time. When they arrived at the NY DMV locations, the defendants allegedly gave the customers fraudulent documents falsely purporting to demonstrate that the customers resided in New York. The customers provided these fake records to the NY DMV staff, and the NY DMV relied on the misrepresentations to issue New York driving permits to the customers. The defendants allegedly arranged for the NY DMV to mail the permits to locations in New York that were controlled by the defendants, who then provided the permits in hand to the customers. The defendants allegedly scheduled road driving license tests for the customers with the NY DMV, and drove the customers again to New York, where the customers took the road tests. If the customers passed the tests, the NY DMV mailed the driver’s licenses to addresses in New York, which the defendants allegedly controlled, and the defendants and other co-conspirators then provided the licenses to the customers.”
According to the charging document, prior to July 2023, undocumented individuals residing in Massachusetts were not permitted to obtain Massachusetts driver’s licenses. After the state revised its licensing laws in July 2023, the defendants allegedly began to use fraudulent foreign passports as identity proof when applying for Massachusetts driver’s licenses for customers who did not reside in the Commonwealth.
The defendants allegedly typically charged $1,400 per customer to obtain a driver’s license through these means.
Legal Proceedings and Potential Penalties
Authorities estimate the conspiracy involved over 1,000 fraudulent applications, resulting in more than 600 licenses issued and generating hundreds of thousands of dollars in illicit proceeds.
Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade, Cesar Agusto Martin Reis and Helbert Costa Generoso were arrested, and appeared in federal court in Worcester for an initial appearance. Gabriel Nascimento De Andrade was ordered detained pending trial. Cesar Agusto Martin Reis and Helbert Costa Generoso were ordered detained pending a detention hearing on Dec. 16, 2024.
The charges carry significant penalties, including up to 10 years in prison for providing false passports and five years for document-related offenses, along with potential fines of up to $250,000.
Ongoing Investigation:
The investigation remains active, led by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts in collaboration with Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, and multiple law enforcement agencies.
Presumption of Innocence:
The charges outlined in the indictment are allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law.
