Chelsea Man Sentenced for Role in Fraudulent Drivers License Scheme

BOSTON – A Chelsea man was sentenced today for his role in a scheme to produce fraudulent identification documents.

Leonel Sanchez, 52, was sentenced to a total of 26 months in prison and three years of supervised release.  In October 2014, Sanchez pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Douglas P. Woodlock to conspiracy to produce false identification documents and aggravated identity theft.  From December 2012 through January 2013, Sanchez bribed an employee of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles in connection with a scheme to issue Massachusetts driver’s licenses to individuals who presented fraudulently obtained Puerto Rican identification documents.

This sentencing is the most recent development in the ongoing investigations involving identity theft and public corruption relating to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Celia J. Blue, Registrar of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles; Colonel Timothy P. Alben, Superintendent of the Massachusetts States Police; David W. Hall, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Diplomatic Security, Boston Field Office; and Cheryl Garcia, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Inspector General, New York Regional Office, made the announcement today. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugenia M. Carris of Ortiz’s Public Corruption Unit.