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Missouri Driver's License Scheme Breaks Open With Plea

By estimate of federal investigators, more than a hundred people from around the country used an illegal custom service to get Missouri driver’s licenses when they were not eligible.

One of four people indicted in October has admitted the scam that gouged illegal immigrants.

Word spread that you could get a Missouri license no matter your immigration status if you knew the right people, according to documents supporting charges.

One of the right people, 26 year old Thomas McNamara III has pleaded guilty to federal charges. 

Four others await trial and are assumed not guilty.

McNamara worked in the St. Joseph contract fee office of Missouri Revenue Department. 

U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Missouri David Ketchmark described how the setup allegedly worked, as “co-conspirators would reach out to Mr. McNamara before they would make arrangements to bring an individual into the license office to make certain he was at work and to let him know that they were bringing in a client.”

The prosecutor said client-buyers each paid nearly a thousand dollars for a set of documents,  another  fifty to one hundred for a license.

The pricey documents often were worthless, according to Ketchmark.

He described such papers as invalid Puerto Rican birth certificates or legitimate documents in names of others.

The case is remarkably similar to another case coming out of the St. Joseph fee office involving other people.

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