More than 30 Kansas government employees have been charged with bribery and other crimes in connection with providing fake drivers licenses to undocumented workers. A retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) agent told 41 KSHB Action News that issuing fake licenses could lead to a wide range of fraud and other criminal activity, including terrorist activity. The undocumented workers allegedly paid $2,500 to obtain these fake drivers licenses.
Twenty-eight-year-old Samantha Jo Moore, one of the defendants, is a driver’s license examiner for the Department of Revenue. She is charged with 51 counts and is accused of engaging in these crimes for at least three or four years. She has been under surveillance by authorities for several months.
Moore has been charged with bribery, official misconduct, felony use of a driver’s license, computer crimes, identity theft, as well as fraudulent tax return. Moore used other people’s social security numbers in order to prepare the fake drivers licenses. Most of the bribery activities are believed to have taken place at the Department of Motor Vehicles Office in Mission, Kansas.
An investigation into the breath of this crime and the number of wrongdoers is evolving. Jesus Basurto Flores of Overland Park was arrested on Wednesday and has been charged with bribery. Ana Julia Castro-Villalobos, Hector Napoleon Castro, Edgar Hernandez-Gonzalez, Veronia Anchondo-Acosta, Victor Jimenez-Flores, Pedro Olvera, Octavio Rodriguez, Alexander Arroyo, Carolina Mejia, Shaylynn Celedon, and Luis Contreras-Ruiz, are the defendants that have to date been reported to have been charged. All of the defendants are from the Overland Park and Kansas City, Kansas, areas. The defendants face charges of bribery, obstruction of legal process, making a false writing, felony use of a driver’s license, and identity theft. Bond has been placed at $250,000 for at least one of the defendants.
This video report from KCTV 5 News in Kansas City by reporter Jeanene Kiesling shows nine of the defendants being booked into jail.
At least eight of the defendants will be in court next Thursday. The Johnson County, Kansas District Attorney is declining to comment on the case as of this publication because the investigation and charges are ongoing.
As of the most recent update the list of those suspects allegedly involved includes: Justino Mejia-Lopez, Edgar Hernandez-Gonzalez, Jesus Basurto, Refugio Hernandez, Hector Castro-Vazquez, Andres Rangel-Pena, Jaime Rangel, Andres Ruiz-Arellanes, Alfredo Mercado, Jose Aguero, Isabel Chavez, Fidel Valverde, Francisco Cacique, Fermin Zepeda, Shaylynn Celedon, Luis Contreras, Carolina Mejia, Victor Jimenez Flores, Veronica Anchondo-Acosta, Samantha Moore, Octavio Rodriguez, Pedro Olvera, Alexander Arroyo, J. Valles, Cristina Hernandez, Lazaro Ortega, Ricardo Jimenez, Alvino Ramirez, Porfirio Espinoza-Nevarez, Hector Castro, Ana Castro-Villalobos, and Edson Mera.
Breitbart Texas reported on Wednesday that the states of Kansas and Arizona, and their Secretaries of State, filed a Petition with the United States Supreme Court asking the Court to hear a case involving the issue of non-citizens illegally registering to vote in elections. The states had asked the U.S. Election Assistance Commission (EAC) to modify the instructions for the federal registration form to include state proof of citizenship requirements and have sued. Actual voter registration forms showing non-citizens have registered to vote in Texas were attached to a friend-of-the-court brief filed by the Public Interest Legal Foundation.
This article has been updated with additional information after more people were arrested.
Lana Shadwick is a contributing writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. Follow her on Twitter @LanaShadwick2
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