Virginia man sentenced in New Jersey for conspiracy to obtain unlawful documents for illegal aliens

NEWARK, N.J. — A Virginia man was sentenced in a Newark federal court Wednesday to two years in prison for his role in a multi-state scheme to unlawfully obtain driver’s licenses for illegal aliens.

This sentence resulted from an investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), The FBI, The U.S. Department of Homeland Security – Office of Inspector General and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the New Jersey State Police, the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission and the Bergen County (New Jersey) Prosecutor’s Office.

Ho-Man Lee, 43, of Alexandria, Virginia, previously pleaded guilty to one count of a superseding indictment charging him with conspiring to unlawfully produce identification documents.

According to court records, Young-Kyu Park, 59, also known as “Oscar,” a former resident of Fort Lee, New Jersey, and later of Los Angeles, California, was the leader of a criminal enterprise that operated in New Jersey, California, Nevada and Virginia. Lee was Park’s Virginia broker.

Park’s group provided a range of illicit services to individuals who were residing illegally in the United States, including obtaining driver’s licenses. In furtherance of the scheme, Park maintained a network of brokers in various states who helped illegal residents obtain driver’s licenses.

The group illegally obtained driver’s licenses genuinely issued by New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Nevada, and elsewhere. To do so, it obtained, created and counterfeited a variety of documents and sold them to customers. Conspirators also escorted customers to various state motor vehicle agencies and coached them on obtaining licenses. Customers typically paid Park’s group $3,000 to $4,500 for the unlawful services.

Park fraudulently obtained and sold genuine I-797 forms used by the federal government – including USCIS – to communicate with others or convey an immigration benefit. State agencies that issue driver’s licenses rely on the forms to verify the authenticity of an applicant’s foreign passport and to verify the applicant’s lawful presence in the United States.

Park obtained blank I-797 forms from Martin Trejo, 48, of Rialto, California, a former USCIS employee who stole batches of the forms. After obtaining the stolen forms, Park and other conspirators used a computer to print a customer’s information on the form. The group also altered and counterfeited other immigration documents, including passports, and created and provided fictitious documents to customers B such as fictitious utility bills and bank statements used to establish residency requirements.

Lee worked in northern New Jersey as Park’s Virginia broker. In exchange for cash, Lee met with customers, provided them with the fraudulent documents, including the fraudulent I-797 forms, and then escorted them to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicle offices to obtain licenses. Afterwards, Lee deposited the funds into bank accounts controlled by Park and kept a portion for his services.

In addition to the prison term, Lee was sentenced to three years of supervised release. Park was sentenced to 72 months in prison on Jan. 8, 2015. Trejo was sentenced to 26 months in prison on Sept. 17, 2014.