In December 2017, I published the 7th page in my series about voter fraud. Link to that page, on my main blog, which is about registering dead people as voters or allowing people to remain on voting lists after they have died.
I have recently become aware of a similar issue in my home state, so I am writing about it here.
There were three findings in this audit.
Listen to these words being spoken by the on-air reporter, starting at 50 seconds into the video.
Every one of these findings has a few recommendations to improve the situation. These are the recommendations for the second finding.
These are the first two paragraphs of a September 6, 2018 WCVB news story. They are the Boston affiliate of ABC News. The link in the second paragraph was in their story.
"This audit is outdated, as it was conducted before the implementation of an entirely new software system which has improved management and tracking capabilities,” RMV spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard said in a statement.
- part of the September 6, 2018 statement from the spokeswoman for the Registry of Motor Vehicles
These are the first seven paragraphs of a March 27, 2018 Worcester Telegram news story.
These are two more paragraphs of the same March 2018 Worcester Telegram story.
These are the first four paragraphs of a September 6, 2018 New England Cable News story. Notice that this news story, like the previous one from WCVB, places the reaction to the audit before the news about the audit.
These are other September 6, 2018 news stories about the same audit. Some of them position the reaction to the audit before the news about the audit, which is an irresponsible editorial commentary.
The Associated Press story about the audit was reprinted in The Salem (MA) News, The Reading (MA) Eagle, and the Fort Bend (TX) Herald.
These are the first five paragraphs of a March 17, 2015 NJ.com story.
These are the first five paragraphs of an April 4, 2018 Sacramento Bee story.
These two photographs, and the captions below them, are part of that ABC News story. The NFL player who died was a passenger in the red car.
These are the first four paragraphs of a June 13, 2018 story in the Miami affiliate of NBC News.
When someone doesn't pass a driver's exam, yet still receives a license to drive, it's likely that the person will be a danger to other people who are driving in the same area.
These are the next two paragraphs of the same story.
These are the first five paragraphs of a March 3, 2023 WCVB story.
"On Dec. 28, 2018, Cox-Johnson allegedly accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for giving a passing score to someone who had failed their learner's permit test six times in their native language."
I have recently become aware of a similar issue in my home state, so I am writing about it here.
The audit
This is the Executive Summary of an audit of the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, that was performed by the Massachusetts State Auditor. This audit is dated September 6, 2018.In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) for the period July 1, 2014 through December 31, 2016. In this performance audit, we assessed RMV’s Automated Licensing and Registration System (ALARS) to evaluate RMV’s administration of state driver’s licenses and disability parking placards and its collection of revenue.Notice that the investigators finished doing their initial investigation on December 31, 2016.
There were three findings in this audit.
- RMV did not effectively administer the use of disability parking placards.
- RMV issued 1,905 licenses after licensees’ dates of death and did not deactivate 4,688 licenses for individuals who died before their licenses expired.
- RMV was unable to locate supporting documentation for 24% of the transactions recorded.
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This man is handicapped. He needs his placard. |
Two years ago, Team 5 Investigates, documenting cases of drivers illegally using placards of dead relatives.Two and a half years ago, as documented by this Boston-area television station's news crew, people were misusing the handicap placards. They had been issued to people who were disabled, but these people had died, and the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles wasn't aware of that fact.
Every one of these findings has a few recommendations to improve the situation. These are the recommendations for the second finding.
- Rather than using the Department of Public Health’s Vital Statistics File to provide a notification of death, RMV should use another source, such as the Death Master File, to verify death dates for individuals who die before license expiration and immediately change their license status to expired.
- RMV should strengthen controls to verify that people named on license applications are not deceased, perhaps by instituting a check against the Death Master File that does not limit the list to individuals in Massachusetts.
The news story about the audit
BOSTON — The Registry of Motor Vehicles says it rejects the findings of a scathing audit that concludes the agency issued almost 2,000 licenses to dead people, cannot properly manage disability placards and cannot document more than $200 million.This news story was badly written. The results of the audit should be in the first paragraph, followed by the reaction to the audit by the RMV spokeswoman. There was no earlier news story about the audit, so the reaction to the news of the audit is misplaced journalism.
The auditor’s report found that the RMV issued 1,905 licenses after death, and did not deactivate licenses for people who have died. According to the audit, 97 percent of these licenses were still listed as active as of January 2018.
The reaction to the news story about audit
This is the third paragraph of the previous WCVB news story that is already linked.“The Registry of Motor Vehicles rejects the findings in the Auditor’s report, especially the false claim that the RMV is issuing licenses to 1,900 deceased individuals who the RMV has verified are alive. This audit is outdated, as it was conducted before the implementation of an entirely new software system which has improved management and tracking capabilities,” RMV spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard said in a statement.This is the second sentence in the third paragraph.
"This audit is outdated, as it was conducted before the implementation of an entirely new software system which has improved management and tracking capabilities,” RMV spokesperson Jacquelyn Goddard said in a statement.
"... an entirely new software system which has improved management and tracking capabilities ...."
- part of the September 6, 2018 statement from the spokeswoman for the Registry of Motor Vehicles
There are problems with the new software
WORCESTER - Vermont transplant Shad Orechovesky figured a trip to the Registry of Motor Vehicles on Main Street on “a random Tuesday morning” wouldn’t have him waiting too long for a new driver’s license.
Mr. Orechovesky couldn’t have been more wrong.
He said he waited a whopping four hours to complete the transaction.
The smile on Mr. Orechovesky’s face belied the excessive wait.
“I wasn’t really expecting to be here for four hours,” he said. “It was long. I’m on vacation this week, so I figured I might as well get it out of the way.”
Delays have been reported at RMV offices throughout the state after the agency’s switch over the weekend to a new computer system.
The new system, called ATLAS, began to offer driver’s licenses and identification cards that comply with a new federal security standard.
These are two more paragraphs of the same March 2018 Worcester Telegram story.
Gov. Charles D. Baker Jr. spoke to reporters about the delays and longer lines some drivers experienced.Even when this software is working, there is still another problem, however.
“The system itself, the technology piece, worked exactly as anticipated,” Mr. Baker said. “That’s the good news, and about half the people who went in (Monday) got in and out in less than an hour. That’s also good. But for many other people, for whom the new requirements are more significant than they used to be, and for the registry in passing and dealing with those new requirements, people had to wait longer than they would have otherwise been expected to wait.”
Dead people still have driver's licenses
Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker is questioning an audit that said 1,905 driver's licenses were issued under the names of dead people.
The audit, conducted by the office of State Auditor Suzanne M. Bump, found that the RMV failed to properly use databases like the Social Security Administration's Death Master File to identify and deactivate licenses of people who have died and to ensure that new licenses were not issued in the name of someone who is deceased.
According to the audit, 97 percent of the licenses issued to deceased individuals were still listed as active as of January 2018.
"The failure to prevent individuals from obtaining identification under the names of deceased people creates a significant public safety risk to the Commonwealth. Fixing this problem must be a top priority for the RMV," Bump said in a statement. "Recent upgrades to the computer systems at the RMV provide it with more tools; now the agency must use them in conjunction with the data sources at its disposal to address this problem."
These are other September 6, 2018 news stories about the same audit. Some of them position the reaction to the audit before the news about the audit, which is an irresponsible editorial commentary.
| WHDH, the NBC affiliate | Boston 25 News | The Boston Globe |
| The Boston Herald | WWLP (Chicopee) | Mass Live |
| The Fall River Reporter | Watertown Patch | U.S.A. Today (Sept. 7, 2018) |
The Associated Press story about the audit was reprinted in The Salem (MA) News, The Reading (MA) Eagle, and the Fort Bend (TX) Herald.
| This September 7, 2018 news story on the website of the CBS News affiliate in Washington, D.C. includes the one-minute video on the right. This Massachusetts story was even reported by The Los Angeles Times. |
New Jersey performed a similar audit in 2015
... because New Jersey had the same problem then and may still have the same problem now.
The dead apparently can get driver's licenses, registrations and other motor vehicle documents in New Jersey.
A state audit found that documents were obtained from the state Motor Vehicle Commission, using social security numbers of more than 300 people after the date that the federal Social Security Administration listed them as being officially deceased.
The audit of state Motor Vehicle Commission data security also found that 32 lucky people were issued documents with no expiration dates.
The review, conducted by the state auditor, found more than 6,000 motor vehicle documents where the social security number belonged to a dead person.
Most of those had been issued prior to when the person's death was reported to social security, but 56 documents had been issued after social security had been notified the person was deceased, the audit found.
California performed a similar audit in 2018
More than 1 million undocumented immigrants have received driver's licenses, the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced Wednesday.The video that is included in this February 5, 2018 ABC News story about the death of an NFL player says that an illegal alien (from Guatemala) who caused the crash that killed the player
Assembly Bill 60, authored by then-Assemblyman Luis Alejo in 2013, required California DMV offices to issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants as long as they can prove their identity and residence within the state. The law has led to 1,001,000 undocumented immigrants receiving licenses as of March 31 but doesn't give the licensees carte blanche to drive outside of California or fly across state or federal borders.
"Immigrants are getting tested, licensed and insured and this is making our roads safer for everyone," said Alejo, now a Monterey County supervisor, in a prepared statement. "Today, we see the law working the way it was intended to and has dramatically improved the lives of a million immigrants and their families."
"... had been deported twice and was previously convicted of DUI in California."
These two photographs, and the captions below them, are part of that ABC News story. The NFL player who died was a passenger in the red car.
The 2018 Lincoln driven by Jeffrey Monroe, 54, in Indianapolis on Feb. 4, 2018.
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The Ford pick-up truck driven by 37-year-old Alex Cabrera Gonsales.
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Many people should not have driver's licenses
There is a 2018 story and a 2023 story in this section.The 2018 story
Two South Florida DMV workers are facing a number of charges after authorities say they gave driver's licenses to people who didn't complete the state's driving exam.
Lori Andre, 32, and Brittany Renee Jones, 29, were arrested Tuesday on charges including racketeering, official misconduct, driver license fraud and offenses against intellectual property, arrest warrants showed.
According to the warrants, the woman gave driver's licenses to at least five people who didn't pass the exam, and even modified information in the state's database.
The warrants didn't say why the women issued the licenses, including if they were paid by the people they issued them to.
When someone doesn't pass a driver's exam, yet still receives a license to drive, it's likely that the person will be a danger to other people who are driving in the same area.
These are the next two paragraphs of the same story.
Terry Rhodes, executive director for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, said both women have been fired.
"The department is committed to maintaining the integrity of its processes to ensure highway safety and security. DHSMV routinely performs quality assurance reviews on transactions, looking for any anomalies that could indicate fraud," Rhodes said in a statement. "As in this case, findings are investigated and those suspected of compromising Floridians’ safety will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
The 2023 story
BROCKTON, Mass. —Federal prosecutors are charging a former manager of a Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles service center and a driving school owner in connection with schemes that provided passing scores to permit and license applicants who failed their tests.This is the first sentence of the last paragraph.
Mia Cox-Johnson, 43, of Brockton, a former manager of the RMV service center in Brockton, was charged with two counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion. Estevao Semedo, 61, also of Brockton, the owner of a driving school, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.
According to the office of U.S. Attorney Rachael Rollins, Cox-Johnson accepted money in exchange for giving passing scores on learner’s permit tests for both passenger vehicle driver’s licenses and Commercial Driver’s Licenses between December 2018 and October 2019.
"These customers were allegedly told to request a paper test instead of taking the test on the RMV computer. Cox-Johnson scored these customers’ paper tests," Rollins' office said.
On Dec. 28, 2018, Cox-Johnson allegedly accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for giving a passing score to someone who had failed their learner's permit test six times in their native language. Rollins said that Cox-Johnson also accepted $200 in cash to give passing scores to an applicant who took three multiple-choice tests for a CDL license on Oct. 21, 2019.
"On Dec. 28, 2018, Cox-Johnson allegedly accepted $1,000 in cash in exchange for giving a passing score to someone who had failed their learner's permit test six times in their native language."
Illegal immigrants should not have driver's licenses
The news stories in this section are arranged in chronological order, oldest first.The dragging murder and the arrest
An illegal immigrant accused of killing a 23-year-old Milford man in a hit-and-run accident Saturday night was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail as the victim’s heartsick family members looked on in Milford District Court yesterday.This is the first sentence of the last quoted paragraph in the previous story.
Judge Robert Calagione entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Nicolas D. Guaman, 34, of 10 Cherry St., Apt. 1, Milford. Guaman was arrested Saturday after police say his pickup truck hit Matthew J. Denice, who was on a motorcycle, and dragged his body a quarter-mile.
Asked if she was angry, his mother Maureen Maloney said: “I can’t have anger. I’m just so broken-hearted to not have my son.”
Maloney said she is not against immigration, but said people need to enter the country the “right way.”
Denice’s stepfather, Michael Maloney, called the incident a “murder” and said Denice was a “great all-American kid.”
The family said they want Guaman to be prosecuted here and receive a lengthy sentence, rather than simply being deported.
Guaman has been charged with negligent vehicular homicide while driving under the influence of liquor, leaving the scene of an accident involving personal injury and death, possession of an open container of alcohol in a vehicle, failure to stop for police, unlicensed driving, failure to yield at a stop sign, resisting arrest and wanton or reckless conduct creating risk to a child, according to court documents.
Milford Police Chief Thomas O’Loughlin said Guaman told police he was in the country illegally. Homeland Security is investigating and has issued a detainer warrant, which would become activated when the court process is completed.
"Milford Police Chief Thomas O’Loughlin said Guaman told police he was in the country illegally."
The illegal alien had his legal competency evaluated
Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker took under advisement arguments Tuesday as to whether a Milford man — in the country illegally from Ecuador — is competent to stand trial in the death 17 months ago of a Milford motorcyclist.Notice that the first paragraph of this news story states that he is in the United States illegally.
Nicholas Dutan Guaman, 35, faces charges of second-degree murder, drunken driving, leaving the scene of an accident causing death, driving without a license and reckless endangerment of a child, among other charges. He allegedly drove through a stop sign in Milford on Aug. 20, 2011, hitting 23-year-old Matthew Denice and dragging him under his Ford F-150 truck for a quarter mile before he stopped for police.
The competency hearing had been delayed several times because of difficulties finding a certified court interpreter who spoke Quechua, a dialect spoken in rural Ecuador.
Peter Ettenberg, Mr. Guaman’s lead lawyer, said his focus would be on demonstrating that Mr. Guaman doesn’t understand the concept of the legal process.
But prosecuting Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey T. Travers said that Mr. Guaman was mentally stable and the tests used by the defense to prove that Mr. Guaman wasn’t competent were based on normal Spanish-speaking Americans.
“The defendant is not that,” he said, although, “He successfully lived the life of an American,” by working and raising a family.
America declared our independence from Great Britain in 1776. We fought and won a war to maintain our independence.
After we did so, our founding fathers agreed on the terms of a constitution that established a government with limited power to regulate our lives.That constitution established a two-house legislature which, over the next two centuries, passed laws that required the permission of the United States Government before anyone who was physically outside our country could enter our country. Many of those laws became enforceable by the signature of the President.
Nicholas Dutan Guaman was born in Ecuador and entered the United States without the permission of the United States. That makes him an illegal alien under the laws that were passed by Congress and signed by various Presidents.
Even before the trial began, our Democrat Governor tried to accommodate the illegal aliens
There's a new push in Massachusetts to grant drivers licenses to illegal immigrants. On Fox and Friends this morning, we heard from the mother of a 23-year-old man who was killed two years ago by a drunk driver who was in the U.S. illegally.This is the first sentence of the Fox News Insider story.
Nicolas Guaman ran a stop sign and struck motorcyclist Matthew Denice in Milford, Mass. Denice was then dragged nearly a quarter-mile.
Maureen Maloney said she's outraged at the idea that lawmakers feel they can change laws to "accommodate people who habitually break our laws."
"I'm doing this because I don't ever want to see another parent have to deal with the heartache and pain that I'm dealing with when this is totally preventable by just enforcing our current laws," she said.
A hearing on the bill to grant licenses to illegal immigrants is scheduled for Feb. 5. Supporters argue it would make undocumented immigrants better drivers and make the roads safer overall.
Maloney says that states with this law already in place have seen increases in the number of accidents involving illegal immigrants.
"There's a new push in Massachusetts to grant drivers licenses to illegal immigrants."
The trial finally begins
WORCESTER - The judge described the victim statement as one of the most moving he’s heard in his 10 years on the bench.
Maureen Maloney described the previous two years, nine months and 29 days as “horrible” and “torturous” on Monday. And after Worcester Superior Court Judge David Ricciardone sentenced Nicolas Dutan Guaman to 12 to 14 years in prison, Maloney said that justice had only “partially” been served.
Guaman, an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who dragged Maloney’s son Matthew Denice to his death in 2011, was found guilty of several charges. Ricciardone, who presided over the jury-waived trial for four days last week, ruled that Guaman was guilty of vehicular homicide while driving negligently and under the influence of alcohol; leaving the scene of a personal injury accident resulting in death; driving without a license; failing to stop for police; and reckless endangerment of a child.
Guaman was found not guilty of the heftiest charge he faced - second degree murder.
“I live with the sound of skids, crashes and screams and images of Matthew’s body being ripped apart in slow motion every day and every night,” Maloney said in her statement. “I now live in two worlds, one foot in the world with my son Michael and one foot in the afterworld with Matthew.“
Guaman, 37, was found by the court to be drunk when he was driving a pickup truck and struck the 23-year-old
This is a similar story on the website of WBUR, the public radio station in the Boston area. Their story is dated May 27, 2014. The headline of that story downplays the horribly violent dragging death of Matthew Denise."Fatal Milford Crash Remains A Lightning Rod For Immigration Policy"
The illegal immigrant from Ecuador, who didn't have any respect for American life or American laws, and who was probably unfamiliar with the rules of the road, was convicted of those crimes.
The trial ends
WORCESTER -- Nicolas Dutan Guaman, the undocumented immigrant who struck and dragged Milford's Matthew Denice to his death in 2011, is seeking to have at least one of his convictions thrown out.This is a similar story on the website of New England Cable News. This news story is also dated May 2, 2016.
Guaman's attorney went before three Massachusetts Appeals Court judges in Worcester Monday morning to argue that the manslaughter by motor vehicle charge should be tossed out. Guaman was convicted in 2014 of that charge and motor vehicle homicide.
His lawyer argued that only the conviction for motor vehicle homicide should stand.
"Manslaughter requires reckless conduct. Motor vehicle homicide only requires negligent conduct. The evidence did not show Guaman acted recklessly," said attorney Ethan Stiles.
Guaman was driving drunk when he rolled through a stop sign and struck Denice on his motorcycle. Denice was stuck under the front of the truck and pulled into the wheel well as Guaman tried to speed away. He dragged Denice a quarter mile to his death.
The conviction was appealed
WORCESTER -- Nicolas Dutan Guaman, the undocumented immigrant who struck and dragged Milford's Matthew Denice to his death in 2011, will remain in jail despite appeals court judges overturning one of his five convictions.
In a decision issued Wednesday, the three judges of the Massachusetts Appeals Court, who heard Guaman's appeal in May, reversed his conviction of the lesser charge of motor vehicle homicide.
The murder case is finally resolved
... and in time for Christmas.The state Supreme Judicial Court won’t hear a further appeal for Nicolas Guaman, the Ecuadorean immigrant convicted of killing Milford resident Matthew Denice in 2011.
The Further Appellate Review application was denied Thursday after lingering with the state’s highest appellate court for more than three months. The application was filed in on Sept. 6.
Guaman’s lawyer, Ethan Stiles, filed the application shortly after the Appeals Court set aside one conviction it deemed duplicative - motor vehicle homicide - but upheld his 12-to 14-year sentence and other convictions, including OUI manslaughter.
Guaman, an undocumented Ecuadorean immigrant, was convicted of charges in 2013 after driving drunk, running a stop sign, hitting and dragging Denice, who was riding his motorcycle.
The denial likely ends Guaman’s chances of a successful appeal.
| Would you want someone in your family to be in a car near someone who hadn't passed a driver's test yet was in control of a motor vehicle? The 14-minute video on the left is a compilation of some fatal car crashes. Some of the drivers in this compilation recorded their own deaths. Reduce fatalities by preventing illegal immigrants from having a license. |
The Democrat Governor has to apologize for his own mistake
August 28, 2011
These are the first four paragraphs of an August 28, 2016 Boston Globe news story.Governor Deval Patrick said yesterday that he shared the community’s outrage over the death of a 23-year-old Milford man struck last week by an alleged drunk driver who was also an illegal immigrant. But the governor urged people not to blame the death on illegal immigration.
Matthew Denice was on his motorcycle last Saturday when he was hit in Milford and dragged for a quarter-mile. Nicolas Guaman, a 34-year-old immigrant from Ecuador, has pleaded not guilty to charges that include vehicular homicide while under the influence.
“It’s a terrible, terrible tragedy,’’ Patrick said at the end of a news conference about preparations for Hurricane Irene. But, he added, “Illegal immigration didn’t kill this person. A drunk driver killed this person, and we have laws about that. And I expect the book to be thrown at this person.’’
Denice’s death reignited the state’s debate over illegal immigration and renewed calls on Patrick to have the state join the federal Secure Communities program, which would screen the fingerprints of everyone under arrest to find and deport serious criminals who are illegally in the country.
September 28, 2011
These are the first two paragraphs of a September 28, 2011 Boston Globe news story.A Marlborough man, who was in the country illegally and had been previously deported, was arrested Saturday morning in Boxborough on his sixth drunken driving charge, police said.These are the words of Deval Patrick, the Democrat ex-Governor of Massachusetts, as quoted by the
Boxborough police said that Eduardo Alementa Torres, 48, who is originally from Mexico, was driving a 1988 Chevrolet pickup truck with an expired inspection sticker when an officer saw him at about 10:45 a.m. on the southbound ramp from Massachusetts Avenue to Interstate 495 and pulled him over.
The officer saw an open beer bottle on the passenger seat and detected a strong odor of alcohol, police said. Torres failed a field sobriety test and submitted to a breath test, which showed that his blood alcohol level was .09 percent, according to police.
The legal limit to drive in Massachusetts is .08 percent.
Police said Torres had no identification on him and gave the officer a false name.
Torres was identified when police ran his fingerprints through an automated identification system, and police also learned that he had three prior drunken driving convictions in California and two in Massachusetts, authorities said.
Police said that Torres is a previously deported fugitive wanted by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Illegal immigration didn’t kill this person. A drunk driver killed this person, and we have laws about that. And I expect the book to be thrown at this person.’
A judge did "throw the book at this person", but Deval's refusal to register with the Secure Communities Program endangered the legal citizens of America and especially those who live in Massachusetts.
| This one-minute video was recorded by the driver of a car in China. It shows another car that is dragging a dog behind it. The narrator of this video is speaking in the Filipino language. The video was uploaded by a Filipino news service. |
Matthew Denise was dragged to his death by the illegal immigrant named Nicolas Dutan Guaman.
He was dragged for ¼ mile.
He was dragged for ¼ mile.
This 1-minute video was uploaded on May 2, 2016.
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This 4½-minute video was uploaded on March 1, 2017.
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