4 Charged in Driver’s License Scam

SACRAMENTO — Two driving school operators in Costa Mesa and two Department of Motor Vehicle employees have been charged with getting valid California driver’s licenses for illegal immigrants for substantial payments, according to federal prosecutors.

The four, indicted by a federal grand jury, are Carlos Cribari, 45, Noemi Manuet, 39, both of Fountain Valley, Lydia Coppola, 31, of Whittier and Ralph Jackman, 42, of Menifee.

They were charged with 17 counts of mail fraud in an indictment that was unsealed Tuesday with the arrest of Cribari and Manuet, said U.S. Atty. Paul Seave.

Prosecutors say illegal immigrants would pay up to $1,000 to Cribari and Manuet, who ran C&C; Driving School in Costa Mesa. The immigrants allegedly were given the answers to the driver’s test and taken to the DMV offices at Norco or Costa Mesa.

They allegedly were pointed to DMV employees Jackman at Norco or Coppola at Costa Mesa. The two workers then wrote down that the immigrant showed a valid American birth certificate, prosecutors said. Illegal immigrants are not eligible for driver’s licenses.

Cribari and Manuet took in more than $50,000, the indictment says, while the two DMV workers were given $300 for each driver’s license they processed. Coppola and Jackman were fired by the DMV this year.

The four face maximum penalties of five years in prison for each of the 17 counts of mail fraud and a $250,000 fine if convicted.