Posted on 04/16/2002 11:16:20 AM PDT by jern
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By IRWIN SPEIZER, Staff Writer
Attorney General Roy Cooper said Monday that state investigators have turned up credible evidence of possible misconduct by Division of Motor Vehicle officials in Western North Carolina, and he called for help from federal prosecutors in pursuing the case.
"We ... have gathered information that leads us to believe that the public duties of some members of the state Division of Motor Vehicles may have been compromised," Cooper said at a news conference in Asheville.
Cooper said the State Bureau of Investigation is probing allegations that some DMV officers have misled investigators; mishandled private money intended for a public purpose; showed regulatory favoritism to individuals or companies; and pressured subordinates to "perform tasks inappropriate for state employees on state time, specifically, solicitation of campaign contributions."
He said he hoped to use the investigative grand jury power of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Charlotte to move the 2-year-old probe toward a conclusion and restore public trust in the DMV.
In addition, Cooper, a Democrat, took the unusual step of urging the division to reform its internal operations. He said he welcomed any help Gov. Mike Easley or the General Assembly might provide to the DMV and the agency it falls under, the Department of Transportation.
"These allegations are serious," Cooper said in a late afternoon telephone interview from Raleigh. "I believe the DMV doesn't need to wait for the outcome of this investigation to clean up its act. It's clear that there are problems."
Cooper focused on several issues that have come up in news stories about the investigation in The Asheville Citizen-Times and other publications, including regulatory favoritism and improper solicitation of campaign contributions. Those leaks have raised questions about whether DMV officers in Western North Carolina fixed tickets, ignored trucking safety violations for certain favored companies and collected campaign contributions on state time.
DOT spokeswoman Sherri Creech Johnson said the department had no problem with an expanded investigation.
Reforms under way
As for upgrading internal policies and procedures, Johnson said the DMV is already working on reforms similar to those that Cooper says are needed, including better training and oversight. Last year, for example, the department implemented comprehensive ethics training for all management and supervisors at DMV and has begun expanding the training to other employees.
Cooper called for mandatory ethics training for DMV supervisors, as well as harsh penalties for those who use promises of favors or threats to get employees to perform tasks outside their duties, and strong enforcement of a "fair, even-handed policy regarding issuing of tickets, citations, and inspections of regulated companies."
Cooper's tough talk followed recent criticism by North Carolina Republicans of the state's investigation.
The investigation became public this year when pages from an SBI file that discussed former Asheville DMV officer Pete Bradley were leaked to the press. Bradley had told investigators that he had to make political contributions to Democratic candidates to get his job. He said embarrassing personal information about him was leaked as retribution for his cooperation in the probe.
About the same time Bradley's file became public, another former DMV Asheville officer, David Ricky Brookshire, sued in Superior Court in Asheville, saying he was fired because he cooperated with SBI investigators in the summer of 2000.
John Hunter, the Asheville lawyer who represents Brookshire, said Cooper's statement Monday was more evidence of problems within the DMV.
"This is a stinging indictment of the DMV for the attorney general to make this kind of statement," Hunter said.
Rep. Mark Crawford, a Black Mountain Republican who had criticized Cooper for not showing him the case file and had raised concerns about a coverup, said Monday that he thought his pressure had helped prompt Cooper to take a more aggressive stance.
"My honest hope is that they will actually diligently pursue this," Crawford said. "Having been around politics long enough, I hope this is not just one more show and then letting it drop."
Just how much longer the investigation might go on is unclear. Cooper said the probe has been difficult and slow and that he planned to continue pursuing it "for as long as it takes."
He said the investigation is confined to Western North Carolina at the moment, but he did not rule out broadening the probe if similar issues arise elsewhere.
How much help the U.S. Attorney's Office will provide remains unclear. Citing federal confidentiality guidelines, U.S. Attorney Bob Conrad would only confirm that he had met with Cooper on Tuesday but would not say what agreement, if any, they reached.
A spokesman in Conrad's office noted that the office typically doesn't investigate cases but rather refers matters to the proper investigative arm, often the FBI.
One federal issue that might be involved in the DMV case is interstate commerce, because the DMV regulates trucks that travel through the state.
FBI involved?
In fact, the FBI might already be looking into the case. Brookshire said in his lawsuit that when he was being questioned by the SBI in the summer of 2000, an FBI agent apparently participated.
Cooper said that he had been talking to representatives of the U.S. Attorney's Office for several weeks about getting involved in the case and that he got a favorable response from Conrad when they met Tuesday. Cooper said he specifically asked for a federal grand jury to be convened, saying federal issues might be involved.
But he also hinted that a grand jury might take a broader approach and help investigators get to the bottom of questions that swirl around the case, such as the misleading statements by some DMV officers.
"A federal grand jury could look into any of these matters," Cooper said. "With this tool, witnesses can be brought in and compelled to provide sworn testimony."
Staff writer Irwin Speizer can be reached at (803) 329-2107 or ispeizer@newsobserver.com
Illegal Alien Voter registration, anyone? Drivers Licenses for Islamic Terrorists, anyone?
October 11, 2001
PAKISTANI MEN FACE MORE FRAUD CHARGES HIGH POINT POLICE SAY THE THREE MEN MAY HAVE BEEN USING COUNTERFEIT CREDIT CARDS USING SOMEONE ELSE'S IDENTITY.PAUL GARBER Staff Writer
Investigators are looking into the possibility that three jailed Pakistani men may have helped other people in High Point obtain documents that would help them stay in the United States illegally, said High Point police Lt. Tony Hamrick.High Point police already have added felony conspiracy and fraud charges to the previous charges the men are facing.
Mohammad Arshad Malik, 45, Chaudrey Waseem-Mosooo Joura, 26, and Nadim Javed Mohammed Bashir, 32, were charged with a felony count of trying to obtain a driver's license using a false document....
March 23, 2002
PAKISTANIS PLEAD GUILTY TO FRAUDPAUL GARBER Staff Writer
In the end, they pleaded guilty to fraud charges. But perhaps Mohammad Malik and Chaudrey Joura's greatest offense was bad timing.The Pakistani men - both of whom had ties to New York - were arrested here two weeks after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
As federal investigators were trying to figure out how terrorists were able to get documents that would allow them to get into and stay in the country, Malik and Joura were caught trying to use a fake W-2 form to get Joura a North Carolina driver's license....
/sarcasm
The same way Hillary used the stolen FBI files.
Do the Democrats EVER do anything legal? Wow. What a bunch of low life crimminals.
Wake up America, smell the java!
Time to start a movement to shut down the DMV alien aid program. It's become another illegal left arm of the DNC. Shut it down.
Any ideas how we could replace it? Like the IRS vs. flat tax? The Public indoctrination centers vs. school choice?
Cars should have a sales tax and nothing else. By deleting the DMV from the face of the earth, we could pay for the Highway Patrol with money left over and save us all the hassle of making up an address for our registration every year. It would also eliminate millions of democrap voters. Give a car a license plate when it is new and it keeps it forever unless the owner pays for a new one.
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