License plot suspect pleads guilty: Will likely testify against 4 co-defendants

Memphis Commercial Appeal ^ | May 11, 2002 | Bill Dries

[sarcasm]

One of five men charged in a scheme to fraudulently obtain driver's licenses in Memphis pleaded guilty Friday to the federal conspiracy charge.

And the federal prosecutor handling the case said in court that Mohammed A. Fares of New York will probably testify against his four co-defendants at their trials.

Fares was to have been the first of the five suspects to be tried before U.S. Dist. Judge Bernice Donald starting May 20.

Fares and three other men with ties to the Middle East who lived in New York allegedly came to Memphis in February to illegally get Tennessee licenses with the help of the fifth suspect, Khaled Odtllah of Cordova and state license examiner Katherine Smith.

Asst. U.S. Atty. Tim DiScenza said Friday that Fares was told by co-defendant Sakher A. Hammad in New York about the scheme.

Odtllah was getting the licenses through Smith, who worked at the Summer Avenue testing station, prosecutors charged.

All six were arrested Feb. 5 after FBI agents and Tennessee Highway Patrol investigators watched the men arrive at and leave the testing station. Officials mounted the surveillance after a tip from a New York FBI agent's confidential informant.

The case drew national attention when Smith died in a fiery car crash the day before she was scheduled to appear at a federal court hearing that month.

In arguing against denying the men bail, prosecutors cited Smith's suspicious death and plumbing work one of the suspects did at the World Trade Center days before it was destroyed in the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.

Neither Smith's death nor the World Trade Center attack was mentioned at Friday's half-hour hearing before U.S. Dist. Judge Julia Gibbons, who accepted Fares's guilty plea in Donald's absence.

Memphis FBI spokesman George Bolds said later that Smith's death remains under investigation and that the agency is not commenting on the probe.

FBI agent J. Suzanne Nash testified at earlier hearings that the fire that killed Smith while she was traveling on U.S. 72 in February was deliberately set with traces of gasoline found on her clothes and in her car.

"It's possible that information pertaining to her death could come out during the trial," Bolds said. "But they are not being charged with causing her death. So, it's not a given that it will."

Donald will sentence Fares later. He faces a maximum term of five years in prison.

Fares said little during the hearing other than answering yes or no to questions from Gibbons after they were relayed to him by phone through an Arabic interpreter.

Fares, 19, was born in Venezuela but his family is from Lebanon. Earlier testimony indicated Fares walked across the Mexican border into the United States after his request for a visa was rejected.

After entering California illegally, he traveled to New York, where he was trying to get a job driving a van but needed a license without having to prove citizenship or legal alien status.

[Victoria Delsoul]

Thanks for the links.

[Eroteme]

There could have been a second bail hearing, or, as I suspect, the article is merely confusing. It doesn't state the date on which the men were denied bail, just that they were. Because no date was specified in this article, it misleads the reader into thinking the bail hearing was just recently held.

Previous articles state that the men were arrested on Feb. 5 and denied bail at their hearing a few days later. Smith was killed just prior to that. So as far as I tell, these guys were all in jail when Smith was murdered.

I wouldn't be so quick to discount Smith's murder serving as a message to the other team members. The article only says that this suspect is expected to testify against his "co-defendants." My bet is that he won't give up the larger operation and its orchestrator. (Yep, it was just us 5. Ya got us all.)

Further, prosecutors can "expect" all they want. Ken Starr wasn't the first or the last to be snowed into exchanging immunity for crapola. Less cynically--there is the possibility that word of this "expected" testimony is disimformation. Perhaps a trap using the suspect as bait? (Lessons learned from Katherine Smith?)

[Eroteme]

Probably just some big hearted guy in the Port Authority. Saw great promise in the young Abdul's little plumbing business and wanted to give the kid a break.

I'd be checking out precisely who requisitioned and authorized that work. This didn't appear to have gone through normal channels.

Interestingly, this guy is the only one of the five who was eventually granted bail (late March.)

[aristeides]

One of the five Arabs is the son of Peter Hansen, of New York City.

[Lion's Cub]

One of the five Arabs is the son of Peter Hansen, of New York City.

The plumber who worked on the sprinkler system, I think. But we couldn't connect Peter Hansen, the father, to Peter Hansen the UN guy, IIRC. The info should still be there on one of the old threads.

[robertpaulsen]

Yeah, it appears that I caught this article late in the news cycle. After reading Shermy's extensive collection, it appears they were in jail at the time. The plot thickens.

[Fred Mertz]

This is one of the biggest stories that you probably never have heard.

You ain't said nothin'. You're right.

[weegee]

Shermy's posted the history list for those tuning in late (or who may have missed some of the details).

As I understood it, she was released and killed in the same day.

One of the jailed men was the mediator in this exercise. He had negotiated this same type of transaction before and gotten away with it. He was also the owner of the car that mysteriously burst into flames before hitting a pole (as observed by witnesses). So one of the jailed men (or his friends) did have access to duplicate keys needed to arrange a device in the backseat/trunk.

This same scam was also discovered in Illinois and other states with other participants.

While the jailed "suspects" (apprehended red handed in the parking lot after the deal went through) claim that they needed the licenses "for to drive the delivery vans of American employer, yes" I think that more licenses were obtained than suspects (meaning that they obtained multiple identities).