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TRENTON – Attorney General
Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director
Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a Trenton
man has pleaded guilty to obtaining fraudulent
vehicle titles with the assistance of a former
Motor Vehicle Commission clerk.
According to Director Gramiccioni, Corey Tucker,
34, of Trenton, pleaded guilty late yesterday
afternoon to an accusation charging him with
second-degree conspiracy to commit official
misconduct before Superior Court Judge Gerald
J. Council in Mercer County. Under the plea
agreement, the state will recommend that he
be sentenced to four years in state prison.
Judge Council scheduled Tucker’s sentencing
for April 2.
In pleading guilty, Tucker
admitted that he fraudulently obtained a number
of motor vehicle titles in the names of other
people. The investigation revealed that Tucker
obtained the titles with the assistance of
a clerk, not identified in the accusation,
who formerly worked in the Special Titles
Unit of the Motor Vehicle Commission in Trenton.
The clerk allegedly circumvented the regular
titling procedures using a special procedure
by which public agencies obtain an application
for certification of ownership (CO) for abandoned
vehicles that will be sold at public auction.
The clerk was responsible
for processing applications for CO’s,
which are issued to the public agency auctioning
the car and transferred to the purchaser at
auction. To obtain a motor vehicle title,
the purchaser returns the completed application
for CO, signed by an official at the public
agency, to the Special Titles Unit. The investigation
revealed that the clerk used the application
for CO procedure to fraudulently give Tucker
titles for vehicles not auctioned by a public
agency.
Tucker was charged as the
result of an investigation conducted by the
State Police Auto Unit’s Document Fraud
Squad and the Office of Insurance Fraud Prosecutor,
with assistance from the Motor Vehicle Commission
Security & Investigations Office. The
case is being prosecuted by Deputy Attorney
General Jacqueline D. Smith, head of the MVC
Unit in the Division of Criminal Justice Major
Crimes Bureau, and Deputy Attorney General
Jacqueline Cistaro. Deputy Attorney General
Smith handled the plea hearing for the state.
Detective Sgt. Mark Wilhelm
and Detective Scott C. Newkirk of the State
Police Auto Unit’s Document Fraud Squad
led the investigation. Detectives Kelly Howard
and Darrell Washington of the Office of Insurance
Fraud Prosecutor assisted and are continuing
the investigation.
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