Investigations

Maria de los Santos was sentenced by a U.S. District Court judge in Chicago, IL, to 12 months in jail and a $30,000 fine for her involvement in an identification fraud scheme. The fraud was uncovered during an Operation Safe Road investigation of commercial driver’s license fraud in the Illinois. An illegal foreign national from Mexico, de los Santos pleaded guilty to fraud charges on February 4 and admitted to earning $100,000 from 1999 through 2001 by helping illegal residents obtain false identifications. While working at the now-defunct New Delhi Driving School, she sold fraudulent Social Security cards and Mexican birth certificates to illegal residents. The illegal residents were then able to obtain valid Illinois driver’s licenses by using the bogus documents. The investigation was conducted by the Operation Safe Road task force, which comprises OIG, the FBI, Postal Inspection Service, IRS, and the Illinois State Police.