According to a news release, a Texas man was sentenced to two years in prison for issuing counterfeit business driver’s licenses worth $215,000 while working for the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS).
Alonzo Blackman, 68, of San Antonio, was sentenced on one count of conspiracy to conduct mail and honest services fraud on Wednesday, a crime to which he pleaded guilty in February 2020.
The crimes were perpetrated between January 2017 and June 2019, when Blackman oversaw the issuing of 215 counterfeit CDLs from the DPS, according to authorities. Driving and operating large commercial vehicles or buses requires licenses.
According to court filings, Blackman failed to give the skills test to 215 candidates but passed them anyhow.
In a statement, U.S. Attorney Ashley C. Hoff stated, “This case constitutes an awful abuse of public trust and safety.”
For each fraudulent CDL, Blackman received approximately $1,000. Co-defendants Fernando Guardado Vazquez, 43, of San Antonio, and Marino Maury Diaz-Leon, 55, a Cuban national living in San Antonio, paid the payments.
According to the statement, 197 of the 215 bogus CDLs were issued to Cuban nationals, 11 to US residents, one to the Dominican Republic national, one to an Ethiopian national, one to an Iraqi national, one to a Puerto Rican national, one to a Ukrainian national, and two to Mexican nationals.
Diaz-Leon was sentenced to a year in jail after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail and honest services fraud. Vazquez was sentenced on August 10 after pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud.
