6 indicted for sale of Tenn. driver's licenses

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - A federal grand jury has indicted six people, including a Department of Motor Vehicles employee, for conspiring to produce and sell Tennessee driver's licenses for cash.

According to a news release from federal prosecutors, those indicted on Tuesday were 27-year-old Manolo Mendez Escobar of Guatemala; 35-year-old Pascual Ramirez-Ramirez of Guatemala; 43-year-old Juan Antonio Hernandez of Cleveland, Tenn.; 45-year-old Francisco Baltazar Pedro of Monterey, Tenn.; Amilcar Lerdo of Gainesville, Ga.; and 48-year-old James Darrell Ward of Chattanooga.

The indictment says between July 2009 and last month, the individuals conspired to bring ineligible applicants to a driver's license testing site in Chattanooga. It's alleged that the applicants presented counterfeit documents to Ward, who was an employee at the testing site, and he produced driver's licenses in return for cash.

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