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2 More Guilty In Driver's License Scam Involving Clerk

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By ELAINE SILVESTRINI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: April 23, 2008

TAMPA – Two men pleaded guilty this morning to charges they were middlemen in a bribery scheme through which unqualified people obtained commercial driver's licenses.

Santos Alamo, 48, and Gustavo Soler, 34, admitted in court that they brought unqualified drivers to a state motor vehicle department clerk, Yolanda Pippins, and bribed Pippins to provide licenses to the applicants.

Pippins, who cooperated with the investigation, has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. Two other men, Serguei Leon and Eric Hernandez Suarez, have pleaded guilty to paying bribes to obtain their licenses.

Soler told U.S. Magistrate Thomas B. McCoun III that he was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. in 2003. He is not a U.S. citizen.

McCoun told him that his guilty plea makes him subject to deportation, although that may not happen because the judge said the U.S. doesn't deport people to Cuba. Alamo was born in Puerto Rico and is a U.S. citizen.

Alamo said he is an electrician who works as a supervisor for a trades company.

Soler said he works in a bakery.

Both pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy, which carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and one count of having a fraudulent driver's license produced, which carries a sentence of up to 15 years behind bars.

Pippins' attorney, Patrick Doherty, has said Pippins was a friend of Soler and Alamo, who "ingratiated themselves with her, probably on purpose. … They asked her to do this, and I think several of the times, if not many of the times, it was done as a favor, and then money began to change hands."

A prosecutor estimated Pippins, who worked in the Largo office of the Florida Department of Highway Safety & Motor Vehicles, provided about 100 fraudulent licenses as part of the scheme.

Reporter Elaine Silvestrini can be reached at (813) 259-7837 or esilvestrini@tampatrib.com.

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