The importance of good management - a new DMV manager uncovers $50,000 in fraudulent activity

The FBI has released the story of fraudulent activity in the El Cajon, California office of the California Division of Motor Vehicles. A driving school owner, in cooperation with a few DMV employees, was able to get anyone a California driver's license - for a price.

“One guy flew in from Dallas, took a cab to the DMV office, paid for his license, and flew back to Dallas a few hours later,” said Special Agent Mike Peters, who investigated the case with Special Agent Kim George out of our San Diego Division. “It was so blatant,” Peters said, “that our surveillance showed the driving school operator brokering multiple deals in the DMV parking lot.”

This went on for three years, resulted in the fraudulent issuance of more than 100 driver's licenses, and netted over $50,000 for the ring.

So how did it stop?

When a new manager arrived at the El Cajon DMV office, however, “she instantly realized that something wasn’t right,” Peters said. The new manager alerted the DMV’s investigative arm, who in turn called the FBI.

This raises a question - why didn't the old manager catch this? Was the old manager clueless, or was the old manager in on the scam? The FBI summary doesn't say.

According to the FBI, the case is ongoing.