FeedsPolice - Women sold fake government documents
The preliminary examination for a Westland woman accused of allegedly selling individuals false identification documents will head back to court next week after being adjourned on Tuesday.
Janice Bess, 43, spent Tuesday morning in the courtroom of Judge Robert B. Brzezinski of the 16th District Court in Livonia for a preliminary examination. The hearing requires the prosecutor to convince a judge that there is sufficient evidence to warrant a trial. With the consent of Bess, however, the examination was adjourned until Oct. 23.
Bess is one of five individuals arrested by the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department earlier this month as part of an investigation into an identity theft network. An employee of the Livonia branch of the Secretary of State, investigators claim that Bess knowingly issued valid state license plates, vehicle titles, vehicle registration, and Michigan drivers’ licenses to individuals using false identities. Bess was arrested at work on Oct. 1 after she allegedly sold a new license plate and vehicle registration to an undercover deputy who used an assumed name and provided no identification.
“It is incredible in a post Sept. 11th world that a government employee would provide anyone with picture identification under a false name,” said Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans.”According to a statement released jointly by the sheriff’s department and the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, the investigation began after a sheriff’s deputy noticed a “fraudulent paper temporary license plate taped inside the back window of the vehicle the officer had pulled over.” When questioned, the driver told police who had sold them the plate.
“From that point the investigation continued to escalate as each person our investigators contacted gave us information on someone else,” said Evans.
The trail eventually lead police to 42-year-old Cheryl Denise Simpson of Detroit who, according to the sheriff’s department statement, “told an undercover deputy that Bess could provide the officer with a ‘whole new identity,’ complete with a state driver’s license, with her photo but containing someone else’s name, address, and driver’s license number.”
“We believe that, for a price, Ms. Simpson would identify customers and Ms. Bess would produce these items using the name and personal information of an unwitting person already in the Secretary of State computer system,” said Evans.
According to John Roach, spokesman for the Wayne County Sheriff’s Department, Simpson told investigators that “they had been working together on the scam for about a year.” Bess had been an employee of the Secretary of State for the past 20 years, he said.
While these types of allegations involving a department employee are few and far between, we’re continually vigilant through our internal auditing and investigative procedures.”
Currently released on a personal bond, Bess has been charged with forgery, use of a computer to commit a crime, two counts of identity theft, and two counts of false certification—impermissible use of personal information.
