Ex-BMV official gets 6 months for driver’s license scam

William A. Hocog, a former supervisor at the Department of Public Safety’s Bureau of Motor Vehicle, was slapped with a six-month prison term yesterday for his role in a driver’s license scam.

“I agree with the prosecution. You are the most culpable of the five defendants in this case,” U.S. District Court for the NMI Chief Judge Ramona V. Manglona told Hocog.

Manglona said that Hocog, as then a public servant, breached the public’s trust and his oath when he conspired with his co-defendants to unlawfully produce and transfer CNMI driver’s licenses.

Hocog remains temporarily free until a federal prison where he will be incarcerated is designated.

After serving his sentence, Hocog will be placed on three years of supervised release. He was also required to pay a $100 court assessment fee and perform 100 hours of community service.

Before being sentenced, Hocog apologized to the court, to the CNMI and U.S. governments, the community, former co-workers, and to family members and relatives, for the crimes he committed.

“I paid the price. It will never happen again. I totally regret it. I lost my career,” Hocog said.

He begged the judge for a probation sentence. “Give me a second chance. I swear to you this kind of action will never happen again.”

Hocog’s lawyer, Vicente Salas, had asked the court to impose a probation sentence and no fine. He said Hocog was experiencing extreme financial problems at the time as his working hours had been cut, among other things.

Assistant U.S. attorney Garth Backe, however, recommended a sentence of six months in prison, saying Hocog was the most culpable of the five.

“This defendant was a government employee, a public servant,” Backe said, adding that Hocog breached the public trust not once or twice, but at least 30 times.

By his actions, Backe said, Hocog was telling the public that BMV was for sale. “Giving him a jail sentence will promote respect of the law,” Backe said.

Hocog used to be the supervisor at BMV’s Records and Firearms Section. He pleaded guilty in June to count 1 of the indictment that charged him with conspiracy to unlawfully produce and transfer an identification document.

Hocog’s other co-defendants are Tahira Dolores Selepeo Miah, Mohammad Jahangir Miah, Hongmei Sun, and Hui Qiang Yan. All have pleaded guilty.

According to the prosecution, from April 16 to June 18, 2010, Hocog and his four co-defendants conspired to unlawfully produce and transfer CNMI driver’s licenses.

Sun and Yan introduced foreign nationals as driver’s license applicants to the Miah couple in order for the applicants to obtain a driver’s license unlawfully with the help of Hocog.

The applicants were each required to pay between $230 and $400 directly to Sun and Yan in order to receive the driver’s license.