Five indicted in ‘pay-for-ID’ scheme out of KY driver’s licensing office
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Five people indicted for scheme that sold fake licenses at Louisville DMV office.
- Two temp workers altered records; three others escorted victims.
- Defendants face mail fraud, money laundering charges and potential forfeiture.
Five people have been indicted — including two temporary employees working with a state agency — in a scheme that targeted non-citizens and offered fake Kentucky driver’s licenses in exchange for cash.
The scheme happened between November 2023 and October 2024 at the Nia Center Driver Licensing Regional Office in Louisville, according to court documents in the case.
Two of those indicted, Donnita Wilson, 32, and Aariel Matthews, 27, were temporary employees working as Kentucky Transportation Cabinet driver’s license issuers, while the other three defendants, Raul Tellez Ojeda, 32, Lazaro Alejandro Castello Rojas, 37, and Robert Danger Correa, 41, were not.
Federal prosecutors say the group target non-citizens in the country legally who spoke limited English. The defendants convinced the victims to pay between $200 and $1,500 to skip lines and bypass driving test requirements to obtain their IDs.
Last year, Gov. Andy Beshear confirmed the state had revoked nearly 2,000 Kentucky driver’s licenses after a KYTC review “identified a number of irregularities.” At the time, Beshear declined to confirm the revocations were related to an alleged “pay-for-ID” claim targeting undocumented immigrants.
According to documents connected to the recent indictments, Ojeda, Rojas and Correa escorted the victims to licensing appointments posing as KYTC employees. Wilson and Matthews, who worked at the Nia Center through Quantam Solutions, a temporary employment agency, allegedly changed driver’s license records, allowing them to print and mail fake licenses to the victims.
Court records indicate Ojeda, Rojas and Correa paid Wilson for her role in the scheme, and Wilson in turn paid Matthews.
The two temporary workers paid other KYTC employees to “buy the silence of anyone in position to report their activities,” according to court documents. They also encouraged coworkers to send “certain customers” to their workstations.
“Proper vetting of individuals seeking a driver’s license is a prerequisite to ensuring the safety of Kentucky’s roadways and ensuring the legitimacy of state-issued identification,” United States Attorney Kyle Bumgarner said in a news release. “As alleged in the indictment, this fraudulent scheme involved kickbacks and bribes leading to numerous legally present, non-U.S. citizens obtaining unlawfully issued drivers licenses.”
Officials did not say how much money the group raked in through the scheme or how many fake licenses were issued. Court documents indicate Wilson and Matthews were fired eight days after the scheme was first reported.
All five suspects are charged with multiple counts of mail fraud, mail fraud conspiracy, honest services mail fraud, honest services mail fraud conspiracy and money laundering conspiracy. Each charge carries a maximum punishment of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. If convicted, they would also forfeit any proceeds from the scheme.
Matthews, Wilson, Rojas and Correa were arrested Friday and are in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Wilson, Matthews and Rojas were released on personal recognizance Tuesday and will be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office while the case continues.
Correa was released Tuesday on an unsecured $25,000 bond and will also be supervised by the U.S. Probation Office.
A trial date has been set for April 7. Court records do not indicate that Ojeda has been arrested.
Former employee claims she was wrongfully fired for reporting scheme
A former employee who worked at the Nia Center has claimed she was wrongfully fired for reporting the scheme to her supervisor.
Melissa Moorman filed a whistleblower act lawsuit against KYTC and Quantam Solutions in Jefferson Circuit Court April 11, 2025, about three months after she was terminated, alleging the cabinet retaliated by firing her after she reported the scheme.
The transportation cabinet maintains she was fired for “legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons not casually related to the alleged whistleblowing activity,” according to court documents.
Moorman, who began working at the Nia Center as a temp in October 2022, says a supervisor asked her to share her login credentials with new employees. Wilson and Matthews allegedly used the login as part of the fake ID scheme without Moorman’s knowledge.
Eventually, Moorman was invited into the scheme by someone outside the office. She did not learn Wilson and Matthews were using her login credentials until after she filed a report to her supervisor, according to court documents.
Moorman spoke with federal investigators about the scheme in January 2025. The investigation ultimately found she was not participating, court documents say, but sometime after the interview, KYTC and Quantam Solutions fired her.
As part of her suit, Moorman is asking to be rehired and for unspecified compensatory damages. The cabinet has asked the court to dismiss the whistleblower suit outright.
The cabinet claims Moorman’s firing was unrelated to the pay-for-ID scheme and instead the result of Moorman incorrectly issuing a driver’s license with the wrong test date multiple times in January 2025, according to court documents. She was fired Jan. 13, 2025.
“The cabinet requested that Quantam remove Moorman from her temporary assignment at Nia for this conduct, not for any conduct related to the driver’s licensing scheme the cabinet and Moorman’s supervisors were already aware of,” court documents read.
Lawyers for KYTC also argue Moorman’s claims are not protected by the Kentucky Whistleblower Act, as she was employed by a temp agency, not the state itself, and her report did not disclose any activity of cabinet employees, making her ineligible for whistleblower claims.
“She made no disclosure about any wrongdoing by the cabinet,” court documents read. “As such, her ‘report’ about wrongdoing of third parties outside the cabinet — conduct the cabinet already knew about, was investigating, and had taken action on — was not disclosure the KWA (Kentucky Whistleblower Act) protects.”
Attorneys representing KYTC and Quantam Solutions did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. Garry Adams, who represents Moorman, declined to comment on the case but said he will file a response to KYTC’s claims by Feb. 18.
