Philly Man Gets Prison In Bribery, Drivers License Fraud scheme

PHILADELPHIA — A Philadelphia man will spend nearly six years in prison after bribing a PennDOT worker to obtain drivers licenses for undocumented immigrants and those who could not pass PennDOT knowledge tests, according to federal authorities.

United States Attorney William M. McSwain said Bakary Camara, 32, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 70 months in prison and three years of supervised release Wednesday for his scheme to produce fake Pennsylvania identification documents by bribing a state official.

In February 2019, a jury convicted Camara of numerous charges, including conspiracy to unlawfully produce identification documents, bribery of an agent from the PennDOT, misuse of a social security number, and aggravated identity theft.

According to evidence presented at trial, Camara bribed a PennDOT agent with cash payments in exchange for the issuance of driver’s licenses to dozens of foreign nationals who failed to take the required tests and failed to provide proof of residency.

Some who received their license through Camara were new to the country, could not speak English, and were unfamiliar with the process of obtaining a driver’s license, while others could not pass the PennDOT knowledge or road tests.

Camara used another person’s social security number on proof of residency documents in an attempt to make it appear that two New York residents were residents of Pennsylvania.

The PennDOT agent put false information into the PennDOT system, stating the individuals passed the required tests and met the residency requirements when they had not. They then unlawfully issued driver’s licenses to those individuals.

The scheme ran from at least April 2014 through May 2015.

During that time, Camara illegally help at least 30 immigrants get Pennsylvania learner’s permits and driver’s licenses.

Camara charged these individuals $300 to $7,000 for each Pennsylvania driver’s license. Camara provided the PennDOT official at least $5,100 in bribes.