March 16, 10

NEWS / Former Motor Vehicle Commission Clerk Pleads Guilty for Her Role in Scheme to Falsify a Birth Date o

TRENTON – Attorney General Paula T. Dow and Criminal Justice Director Stephen J. Taylor announced that a former Motor Vehicle Commission clerk from Gloucester County pleaded guilty today for her role in a scheme to issue a driver’s license with a false birth date so the license holder would appear to be 21-years-old.

Amanda Green, 27, of Woodbury, pleaded guilty before Superior Court Judge Irwin J. Snyder in Camden County to second-degree conspiracy. Deputy Attorney General Jacqueline D. Smith, deputy chief of the Division of Criminal Justice Major Crimes Bureau, prosecuted the case and represented the state at the guilty plea hearing.

Judge Snyder scheduled sentencing for May 14.

Green’s co-defendant, Bridgett Hagan, 21, of Gloucester City, was sentenced in June to five years of probation, conditioned on her serving 270 days in Camden County Jail. Hagan was also ordered to forfeit her public employment. She pleaded guilty on March 10, 2008 to conspiracy to commit computer criminal activity. Green and Hagan were arrested on Aug. 28, 2008.

The charges stem from a joint investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice and the Motor Vehicle Commission. When the offense occurred in 2008, Green and Hagan worked in the Cherry Hill Motor Vehicle Agency. Before they were arrested and suspended, Green and Hagan were transferred to the Camden Motor Vehicle Agency.

The state investigation revealed that on April 29, 2008, Hagan used her access to the MVC computer system to change the date of birth listed for her from May 2, 1988, to May 2, 1986. She then issued a new digital driver’s license for herself with the false birth date.

In pleading guilty, Green admitted that she assisted Hagan in the fraudulent transaction. The investigation determined that Green collected the Motor Vehicle fee from Hagan and put it into her own cash register, making it appear as if she processed Hagan’s transaction. Motor Vehicle clerks are not allowed to process their own transactions.

The investigation was conducted by Detectives Michael Duffield, Richard A. Loufik, Frederic Moore, Shawn Gorlin, Paul A. Marfino Jr., and Sgt. Kim Husband of the Division of Criminal Justice, and Investigators Jeffrey Streitz and Stephen Crane of the Motor Vehicle Commission.

http://www.nj.gov/oag/newsreleases10/pr20100315c.html