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TRENTON
– Attorney General Zulima V. Farber
announced that a former Motor Vehicle Commission
clerk at the South Plainfield MVC agency
has pleaded guilty to conspiring with her
husband to sell New Jersey digital drivers’
licenses to unauthorized persons.
Miriam Rendas Garcia, 26, of Plainfield,
formerly a clerk at the MVC office in the
Middlesex Mall, pleaded guilty today to
a charge of second-degree conspiracy to
commit official misconduct before Superior
Court Judge Frederick P. DeVesa in Middlesex
County. Under the plea agreement, the state
will recommend that she be sentenced to
three years in state prison.
On May 10, Rendas Garcia’s husband,
Harry Garcia-Montoya, 26, also pleaded guilty
before Judge DeVesa to a single charge of
conspiracy to commit official misconduct
for his role as a broker in the illegal
sales of the licenses. He faces up to five
years in state prison when sentenced. Sentencing
for both defendants is scheduled for July
7 before Judge DeVesa.
“This
defendant, aided by her husband, took advantage
of her public employment by selling driver’s
licenses to anyone willing to pay their
price,” said Attorney General Farber.
“We will continue to investigate and
prosecute those who seek to profit at the
expense of the public’s safety and
security.”
At the guilty plea hearing today, Rendas
Garcia admitted that she issued digital
driver’s licenses to individuals who
were not required to provide the MVC with
any of the required identification documents
to demonstrate their legal authority to
obtain a license. She and her husband were
arrested by state troopers on March 14 as
a result of an investigation by the New
Jersey State Police Auto Unit, which revealed
that the couple had been selling licenses
for more than a year to unauthorized persons,
primarily undocumented immigrants, for an
average fee of $3,000 per license.
Deputy Attorney General Debra Conrad is
prosecuting the case. The investigation
was led by Detective Sgt. Michael Yager
of the document fraud squad of the State
Police Auto Unit.
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