ID Theft Ring Allegedly Bribed California DMV Employees

ID Theft Ring Allegedly Bribed DMV Employees

Counter-terrorism investigators busted an alleged identity theft ring whose members are suspected of bribing Department of Motor Vehicles employees in Inglewood and several states to provide fake documents.

Los Angeles police, the FBI, DMV and District Attorney's Office teamed up to track a Pakistani woman and 13 alleged accomplices, the Los Angeles Times reported on its Web site.

Shamsha Laiwalla, 44, who recently pleaded guilty to federal charges of identity theft stemming from the investigation, paid DMV workers to provide driver's licenses and other documents, Los Angeles police and federal officials told The Times.

For $3,500, she offered to provide a driver's license, birth certificate and Social Security card to an undercover agent pretending to be a Pakistani who sneaked into the United States, The Times reported.

The names of least some of her alleged clients have turned up in ongoing federal investigations into national security issues, LAPD Deputy Chief Michael Downing told the newspaper.

...in 2007, one of her contacts changed DMV records for members of a criminal organization that dealt drugs and sold counterfeit goods in Los Angeles' garment district...

Authorities suspect that money from the group went to Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militant Shiite Muslim group in Lebanon.

...."We have no idea how many thousands of people might be out there with these documents," LAPD Detective Mark Severino told the newspaper. "If we're talking about counter-terrorism issues, that's a scary thought." (Full text at www.nbclosangeles.com)

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