News Americas, ORLANDO, FL, Sat. July 26, 2014: A 43-year-old Jamaican man will have to spend the next three years, six months in federal prison in Florida after pleading guilty to conspiracy to obtaining fraudulent Florida driver licenses for more than 280 people, falsely claiming U.S. citizenship and aggravated identity theft.
According to court documents, Richard Anthony Davis conspired with a customer service representative at the Osceola County Tax Collector’s Office to issue Florida driver licenses and identification cards to more than 280 people based upon fraudulent and fraudulently-obtained U.S. Virgin Islands identity documents.
Those documents included genuine birth certificates, social security cards, and fraudulent U.S. Virgin Islands identifications or driver licenses, with corresponding photographs. The customer service representative, Walter Brown, previously pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 2 years in prison.
Davis escorted his customers to the Osceola Tax Collector’s Office on days prearranged with Brown. Some of his customers were undocumented aliens, previously deported aliens, convicted felons and others with unknown status.
The customers would go directly to Brown’s window with the supporting documentation that Davis gave them for their license application. Brown would then issue the customers Florida driver’s licenses and identification cards. Davis charged his customers $7,500 each and paid Brown between $300 and $700 per Florida driver’s license or identification card.
Davis pleaded guilty to these offenses April 30th.
Davis was also ordered to forfeit $2,926, which is traceable to proceeds of the offenses. He entered the United States in 1991 legally, but overstayed his legal residence and never departed the United States.
Beginning in 2000, Davis falsely represented himself to be a U.S. citizen under five different names.
“Fraudulent documents threaten the security of all citizens by making it easier for criminals to commit a range of offenses from identity theft to potential terrorism,” said Susan L. McCormick, special agent in charge of HSI Tampa. “HSI is committed to stopping this threat that undermines our nation’s security.”
