Driver’s License Examiner Convicted in Fraud Scheme
| U.S. Attorney’s Office December 08, 2010 |
PHILADELPHIA—Harold Palmer, 44, of Philadelphia, was convicted today of extortion and making false statements to federal agents in connection with a scheme to secure cash payments for state driver’s licenses, announced United States Attorney Zane David Memeger.
Palmer was indicted in May of 2009 following an two-year probe dubbed “Operation Blind Spot” which investigated several illegal businesses that assisted illegal aliens, foreign nationals, and others in obtaining driver’s licenses, through fraudulent means, at various PennDOT driver’s license centers in Philadelphia. At the time of the indictment, Palmer was a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (“PennDOT”) driver’s license examiner. He took cash payments to issue driver’s licenses.
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 9, 2011. Palmer faces a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison.
The case was investigated by United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Department of Transportation – Office of Inspector General, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and the Pennsylvania State Police. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Richard J. Zack and David J. Ignall.