New York State and federal law enforcement agencies jointly announced on the 1st that the Flushing T&E Driving School in Queens was suspected of bribing DMV examiners for a long time, helping a large number of Chinese illegal immigrants and even those who could not drive to illegally obtain driver’s licenses. The prosecutor said that the number of people involved in the case may reach hundreds to thousands, posing a threat to the public safety and national security of the city. Staten Island District Attorney Michael McMahon pointed out that the case involved a total of 139 charges, eight driving school and DMV personnel involved in the case have been prosecuted, and another 24 people have been arrested. The case may affect at least hundreds of people.
Suspected of long-term bribery of examiners, 24 arrested and 8 prosecuted
According to investigations, the T&E Driving School promoted through social media, specifically targeting the Chinese and Fujianese communities. Most of the applicants are new Chinese immigrants and are not American citizens. The driving school clearly marked the price: 1,600 yuan for those with a learner’s permit, 2,000 yuan for those without a permit, “guaranteed to pass the test.” Driving school staff not only arranged bribes for examiners, but sometimes even directly impersonated students to take written and road tests. Some DMV examiners “rubber stamped” and skipped the test process and issued licenses directly.
The main suspects in this case include 38-year-old Dazhong Driving School head Weixian Tan (Weixian Tan, transliteration, the same below), 40-year-old secretary Weiwen Tan, 36-year-old employee Winnie Yang, and 38-year-old road test coach Wenfeng Yang. According to the indictment, the identity of another female substitute has been obtained but has not been made public.
In addition, the three DMV examiners involved in the case are Edward Tarik Queen, 40, Aji Idicula, 43, and Tianna Rose Andolina, 30.
Multi-level division of labor, undercover agent’s personal verification process
This case was reported by the internal staff of the DMV after discovering the abnormality. The police sent an undercover agent who knows Fujian to apply for a driver’s license from Dazhong Driving School with a learner’s permit and 1,600 yuan as a student. The other party arranged an appointment for the test at the Staten Island test center, but then told him that “there was no need to attend” and mailed the official driver’s license shortly afterwards. The law enforcement department seized a total of 150 driver’s licenses and permits involved in the case during the seizure operation, which shows the scale of the operation.
State Inspector General Lucy Lang said that this type of driver’s license fraud not only endangers road driving safety, but may also affect buildings and boarding security checks that require state ID cards to enter and exit, and has risen to the national security level. Special agents of the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) pointed out that this type of crime “directly impacts public trust, systematically exploits vulnerable communities and endangers social security.”
At present, all defendants have been charged with multiple fraud, forgery, tampering with official documents and theft. Due to the criminal justice reform in New York State in 2019, cash bail cannot be set for certain non-violent or economic crimes. Therefore, although the defendants in this case are involved in felonies, they are released without paying bail according to law, but the court has confiscated their passports to prevent them from absconding. Prosecutors estimate that a single examiner alone could issue as many as 1,500 driver’s licenses a year.
Prosecutors call on those involved to contact them
Prosecutors said that anyone who obtained a driver’s license through illegal means also faces legal risks, and called on those involved to contact them and confess that their punishment could be reduced as appropriate. Reports can be made by calling the New York State Inspector General’s hotline: 1(800)367-4448.
Google Maps has shown that the above-mentioned driving school is “permanently closed”. No one answered the official phone call, and only the voicemail was left. The driving school is still on the second floor of the original building in Flushing. The entrance and the sign on the upper floor are still there, but no one answered the door. The neighboring store only said that it “has been closed for a long time” and did not disclose any other information.
