On May 10, 2023, 43-year-old Leidy Hernandez Lopez pleaded guilty to buying and selling fraudulent Texas-issued temporary buyer tags.
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A judge ordered Lopez to serve 30 months in federal prison, immediately followed by three years of supervised release. The court also ordered Hernandez Lopez to pay restitution to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles in the amount of $316,820, according to U.S. Attorney Alamdar S. Hamdani.
Hamdani said Lopez admitted to conspiring with others to sell hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of fake paper tags.
A New York Man, 50-year-old Octavian Ocasio, was charged and arrested in the same scheme in May. In June 2022, a federal grand jury indicted 33-year-old Daniel Rocky Christine-Tani for his role in the widespread fraud.
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The indictment also adds more charges against fugitive 32-year-old Emmanuel Padilla Reyes, also known as Christian Hernandez Bonilla or Noel Rivera. If you know any information about Reyes' whereabouts, you are urged to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or email www.TIPS.FBI.GOV
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The FBI is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone providing information that directly leads to his arrest.
In Texas, used car dealerships must have an independent GDN license to buy, sell, or exchange used vehicles. Once a GDN license is obtained, used cars can be bought, sold, or exchanged. Temporary buyer tags can be created through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicle's online eTag portal, but the portal can only be accessed by licensed GDN holders.
According to court documents, Lopez and Ocasio used fake identities, driver's licenses, lease agreements, and business signs in the online application portal to obtain GDN licenses for fictitious car dealerships.
"The harm, in this case, was more than monetary," Hamdani said. "In selling fake vehicle tags to other sellers, Lopez provided criminals with the means to create ghost cars that were invisible to law enforcement. In some cases, Texas temporary tags were known to have been used to commit crimes that posed a hazard to the public ranging from driving without insurance to committing robberies and drive-by shootings."
SEE ALSO: Fake paper car tags cost Harris County more than $80M in past 6 years, new report finds