Crime

Man sentenced for helping undocumented immigrants get Missouri driver’s licenses

By Tony Rizzo
A Missouri Department of Revenue office in St. Joseph was at the center of a conspiracy to provide fraudulent driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. This Google Maps Street View image was taken in April 2016.
A Missouri Department of Revenue office in St. Joseph was at the center of a conspiracy to provide fraudulent driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. This Google Maps Street View image was taken in April 2016. Google Maps

A man who helped undocumented immigrants fraudulently obtain Missouri driver’s licenses was sentenced Friday to a year in federal prison.

Martin Lara-Rodriquez was one of more than a dozen people charged in 2012 with participating in a nationwide conspiracy involving the Missouri Department of Revenue office in St. Joseph.

More than 3,500 people in the United States illegally obtained driver’s licenses as part of the conspiracy, which involved the use of fraudulently obtained birth certificates and social security cards.

Lara-Rodriguez, 38, is a Mexican citizen who is in the United States illegally, according to court documents.

He was living in North Carolina and admitted in his plea agreement that he made about 10 trips to Missouri, helping about 30 people obtain fraudulent documents.

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