Home Memphis Press Releases 2009 Former Shelby County Clerk’s Office Employees Plead Guilty
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Former Shelby County Clerk’s Office Employees Plead Guilty

U.S. Attorney’s Office July 21, 2009
  • Western District of Tennessee (901) 544-4231

MEMPHIS, TN—Konya Schumann and Paula Hanson both former employees of the Shelby County Clerk's Office along with Amanda Cruz and Maureen Bowers pleaded guilty, in separate but related cases, today in federal court announced Lawrence J. Laurenzi, United States Attorney for the Western District of Tennessee, My Harrison, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, John Johnson, Assistant Special Agent in Charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Rick Harlow, Special Agent in Charge of the U.S. Secret Service, and Larry Godwin, Director of the Memphis Police Department. Each defendant pleaded to a separate two-count information charging them with Conspiracy to Defraud the State of Tennessee of Honest and Faithful Services and Conspiracy to Harbor Illegal Aliens. Each defendant faces up to 15 years in prison and they are scheduled to be sentenced in December.

According to information presented in court and entered into evidence, the two former clerks defendants were taking money from Cruz and Bowers and others in exchange for favorable treatment, including passing vehicles without inspection, registering automobiles for lowered sales prices in order to circumvent takes, conducting multiple transactions at a time in violation of clerk’s office policy, and registering vehicles without proper identification and proof of residence.

It was further noted that Bowers and Cruz, notaries public, were charging illegal aliens fees to register the aliens’ cars, going into the clerk’s office, making payments to employees at the clerk’s office, and presenting fraudulent paperwork that contained false addresses for the illegal aliens whose cars the notaries were registering. As referenced in the court documents, the scheme allowed illegal aliens to obtain vehicle registrations illegally and thereby avoid detection.

These cases are a result of the yearlong investigation into allegations of fraudulent activity within the Shelby County Clerk’s Office. The investigation was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Secret Service, and the Organized Crime Unit of the Memphis Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Steve Parker and John Fabian are handling the case for the government.

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