A Brazilian national residing illegally in Waterbury, Connecticut, has been sentenced for his role in a scheme to obtain driver’s licenses for individuals who were not eligible, primarily undocumented immigrants. Cesar Agusto Martin Reis, 28, received a sentence of time served—290 days in prison—from U.S. District Court Judge Margaret R. Guzman on September 26, 2025. Following the sentencing, he now faces deportation proceedings.
Martin Reis pleaded guilty in June 2025 to one count of conspiracy to unlawfully produce and possess with intent to transfer identification documents and one count of possession with intent to use or transfer such documents unlawfully. He was charged alongside four co-conspirators in December 2024.
According to court records, from November 2020 through September 2024, Martin Reis and others fraudulently obtained driver’s licenses for customers who could not legally acquire them due to their immigration status or residency restrictions. Before July 2023, undocumented immigrants could not get Massachusetts driver’s licenses; however, New York began allowing them in 2019. The group arranged for New York licenses for non-residents—including people living in Massachusetts—and after July 2023 began obtaining Massachusetts licenses for those outside the state as well.
The defendants typically charged about $1,400 per customer for these services. On February 4, 2024, Martin Reis was found with fifty fraudulent driver’s licenses during a traffic stop in Bedford, Massachusetts.
The operation involved bypassing requirements set by the New York Department of Motor Vehicles (NY DMV), which included passing written tests and completing driving school coursework. The NY DMV required online test-takers to provide webcam photos during exams to verify their identity.
To circumvent this process, Martin Reis and his associates obtained staged photographs of customers appearing to take tests and uploaded these images when prompted during the online exam process. They also created fake certificates from driving schools—complete with forged staff signatures—for submission to the NY DMV.
For license applications that required proof of residence in New York or Massachusetts, Martin Reis and others provided fraudulent documents claiming residency and drove groups of customers from Massachusetts into New York for appointments at DMV offices. Once approved by the DMV based on these false records, permits and eventually full licenses were mailed to addresses controlled by the defendants before being delivered directly to customers.
In total, authorities say more than a thousand applications were submitted through this scheme; over six hundred resulted in issued licenses with hundreds of thousands of dollars collected by those involved.
U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley stated: “United States Attorney Leah B. Foley; Michael J. Krol, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in New England; and Kelly Larco-Ward, Inspector in Charge of the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, Boston Division made the announcement.” Assistance came from multiple agencies including police departments from Boston as well as Danbury and Waterbury (Connecticut), federal prosecutors from Connecticut’s district office and investigators from both states’ motor vehicle agencies.
Federal law allows up to five years’ imprisonment for conspiracy charges related to unlawful production or possession of identification documents; actual possession carries penalties up to fifteen years’ imprisonment plus fines up to $250,000 per offense.
All remaining defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond reasonable doubt.
