Englewood-Englewood Cliffs Patch – by NATALIE MIELES
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office has charged six individuals who they say fraudulently obtained New Jersey driver’s licenses with other identities.
The charges are a result of a 2012 anti-fraud initiative by the Motor Vehicle Commission and Division of Criminal Justice that used “cutting edge facial scrub software to determine if the same individual was maintaining more than one record in the motor vehicle database,” Bergen County Prosecutor John L. Molinelli said.
The initiative produced over 950,000 leads out of the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission’s 19 million images in its database.
“After three levels of review to identify suspected criminal fraud, representatives from the Division of Criminal Justice meet weekly to review cases of suspected criminal fraud,” Molinelli said.
The six charged individuals were referred to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office White Collar Crimes Squad for further investigation, which revealed that the defendants had “suspended New Jersey driving privileges and obtained New Jersey driver’s licenses in other parties names using fraudulently obtained documents.”
Those charged are: Graciela Bernardy-Maldonad, 33, of Paterson; Randy Perdon, 58, of Hackensack; Franky Gonzalez, 40, of Bogota; Alejandro Estrada, 37, of Leonia; Raymond E. Rodriguez, 41, of Passaic; and Frank Fransese, 41, of Cedar Grove.
All were charged with use of personal identifying information of another, a second degree crime. The defendants will also be subject to an administrative suspension of driving privileges up to two years, according to Molinelli.
All defendants were released on their own recognizance, expect for Raymond Rodriguez.
Additionally, Molinelli said Frank Fransese is “a fugitive and his whereabouts are currently unknown.”
Pictured:
Top row: Alejandro Estrada & Franky Gonzalez
Bottom row: Randy Perdon & Raymond Rodriguez
Not pictured: Graciela Bernardy-Maldonad & Frank Fransese
Transportation is a right.