By Grimy Times Staff, March 24, 2024
A Knoxville couple has been sentenced to prison for conspiring to produce over 100 fake Tennessee driver’s licenses and identification cards. Cheryl Huff, 49, was sentenced to 37 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release. Her husband, Mario Paz-Mejia, 51, was sentenced to 30 months in prison followed by one year of supervised release.
Huff, a former District Manager for the Tennessee Department of Safety and Homeland Security, used her position to facilitate the scheme. Paz, a Knoxville resident, recruited individuals who were not lawfully qualified to receive Tennessee driver’s licenses or identification cards and charged them $2,500 for the service.
According to court documents, Paz assisted his customers in obtaining false citizenship and residency documents, including fraudulent lease agreements and false birth certificates. Huff used her access to TDSHS’s internal software to confirm the names and information on the false documents could be used to obtain a Tennessee driver’s license or identification card.
Paz’s customers would meet him at a Knoxville-area Driver Service Center before business hours, where he would escort them inside with Huff’s assistance. Huff would then initiate driver’s license applications using TDSHS software and instruct subordinate employees to complete the applications and issue the licenses.
The scheme was the result of an ongoing investigation by the Tennessee Highway Patrol’s Criminal Investigation Division, the United States Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Postal Inspection Service, and the United States Secret Service.
U.S. Attorney Francis M. Hamilton III announced the sentences. Assistant United States Attorney William A. Roach, Jr. represented the United States in the case.
The sentences were handed down by United States District Judge Katherine A. Crytzer in the United States District Court at Knoxville.
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Key Facts
- State: Tennessee
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Public Corruption|White Collar Crime
- Source: Official Source ↗
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