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TRENTON
– Attorney General Stuart Rabner and
Criminal Justice Director Gregory A. Paw
announced that a former Motor Vehicle Commission
clerk at the East Orange MVC agency has
been sentenced to state prison for selling
New Jersey digital driver’s licenses
to unauthorized persons.
Lawrence
McCross, 29, of East Orange, was ordered
by Superior Court Judge Joseph C. Cassini
to serve five years in state prison. McCross
pleaded guilty on June 6, 2006, to a charge
of conspiracy to commit official misconduct
filed by the Division of Criminal Justice.
He was sentenced today to five years on
that charge as well as three years on unrelated
drug charges brought by the Essex County
Prosecutor’s Office, with the sentences
to run concurrently.
At
his guilty plea hearing before Judge Cassini
on the official misconduct charge, McCross
admitted that he issued approximately 25
digital driver’s licenses to individuals
despite the fact that they did not present
any of the required identification documents
to demonstrate their legal authority to
obtain a license. He was arrested by state
troopers on Feb. 28, 2006, following an
investigation by the New Jersey State Police
Auto Unit-Document Fraud Squad, which revealed
that he had been selling licenses to unauthorized
persons for at least six months for an average
fee of $2,500 per license.
“This
defendant used his official position to
sell driver’s licenses to unauthorized
persons,” said Attorney General Rabner.
“In this post-9/11 world, we must
be vigilant to detect and prosecute this
type of criminal activity, which has the
potential to compromise public safety.”
Deputy
Attorney General Erin Callahan represented
the Division of Criminal Justice at the
sentencing. Members of the New Jersey State
Police led the investigation.
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