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McKinney man gets 4 years in prison for supplying illegal IDs

CSDL, Tue, 06/22/2010 - 03:00

DALLAS — A McKinney man was sentenced to nearly four years in federal prison on Monday after pleading guilty to providing stolen and fraudulent identification documents to illegal immigrants.
Ruben Gomez-Luevano, a 36-year-old Mexican citizen, will be referred to immigration officials for deportation proceedings after serving his sentence. Gomez's two co-defendants, Reyes David Martinez 36, of Dallas, and Alvaro Ivan Adame, 41, of Wichita Falls, have pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme and have been sentenced.
Martinez pleaded guilty in April 2009 to one count of conspiracy to transfer unlawfully issued identification documents and was sentenced to 14 months in prison. Adame pleaded guilty to one count of accessory after the fact to the crime of improper entry by an alien and was sentenced to five years probation.
At the time of his offense, Adame was a lieutenant with the Texas Department of Public Safety and worked as a supervisor in its Driver License Division at offices on Northwest Highway in Dallas and in Wichita Falls. As part of his plea agreement with the government, Adame resigned from the DPS and has permanently relinquished his Texas Peace Officer's License, precluding him from ever obtaining that license again in Texas.
With full knowledge of Gomez-Luevano's illegal status in the United States, Adame attempted to employ him as an "off the books" confidential informant to assist in the investigation into the use of fraudulent documents at Texas DPS offices, but DPS refused to approve him.
Adame assisted Gomez-Luevano in avoiding apprehension and deportation and also received money from Gomez-Luevano for helping the illegal immigrants who were paying Gomez-Luevano to obtain Texas driver's licenses and identification cards to clear fines they owed to DPS.
According to documents filed in the case, Gomez-Luevano admitted that from 2003 until his arrest in January 2009, he conspired to transfer driver's licenses and identification cards knowing they were produced unlawfully.
Martinez became involved in the conspiracy in 2008 when he began working for Gomez-Luevano. Martinez and Gomez-Luevano transported the illegal immigrants from Texas to New Mexico and helped them obtain fraudulent New Mexico residency documents. The illegal immigrants then presented the documents to the New Mexico Department of Motor Vehicles and received New Mexico licenses.
Martinez and Gomez-Luevano would then transport the immigrants back to the Dallas area, where they would present the New Mexico licenses or identification cards to the Texas DPS, including the office managed by DPS Lt. Adame, and would then receive a Texas driver's license or identification card in the mail.
The immigrants paid Gomez-Luevano between $1,500 and $2,500 to receive their Texas licenses.
Sometimes, Gomez-Luevano even allowed the immigrants to use his vehicle to take the driving test. The district court found that Gomez-Luevano assisted others in fraudulently procuring more than 200 Texas driver's licenses and identification cards during the conspiracy.
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