Evelyn Medina, one of four RMV clerks charged in connection with a drivers license scheme tailored for illegal aliens, posted to Facebook this photo of herself apparently taken at her place of work, the Haymarket RMV office in Boston. (Facebook)
BOSTON — A transcript documenting last week’s appearance in federal court of a Registry of Motor Vehicles clerk federal investigators allege was the key figure in an identity fraud scheme to benefit illegal aliens hints that the alleged ID theft ring may be more intricate than it appears.
Evelyn Medina, of Jamaica Plain, has been subject to electronic monitoring and a nighttime curfew since her arrest last week and is due to reappear in federal court Friday for a continued detention hearing and preliminary examination.
The questions raised during Medina’s appearance in Massachusetts U.S. District Court in the Seaport last Thursday, in which federal prosecutor Eugenia M. Carris conveyed to U.S. Magistrate Judge Marianne B. Bowler her concerns about Medina’s inconsistent answers as to her age, exact date of birth, and travel history, are likely to be raised again, according to sources with knowledge of the case.
The transcript indicates that Medina, who is charged along with three other clerks and two additional alleged “document dealers” with aggravated identity theft, apparently insisted to a pretrial services employee she is 55 years old when her birth records indicate she is actually 56.
“Before I begin with the substance of what I have learned from Ms. Rivera from pretrial services as well as from my agents, I would like the Court to be aware that yesterday at the initial appearances independent of each other both the agents who were conducting the defendant’s arrest and Ms. Rivera approached me and indicated to me that they both had an inkling in Ms. Rivera’s words that something wasn’t right and that is that the defendant here was being less than forthcoming with them,” Carris said at the start of her remarks. “And while, Your Honor, the government certainly recognizes the defendant’s right not to confess to agents and not to be forthcoming with me, she did deny involvement in the scheme despite being presented with video and documentary evidence to the contrary.”
Carris then summarized for Bowler the interactions between Medina and various federal officials:
Carris added that she instructed agents assigned to the case to check out Medina’s naturalization forms and alien registration file, which came back showing her as listed by the State Department as being born on Feb. 15, 1961. According to Carris, Medina had once asked for a replacement naturalization form requesting the date to be changed to Feb. 14, 1961.
Since the time she became a U.S. resident, Medina has apparently identified herself “under the same Massachusetts driver’s license two different licenses each in the 2/14/61 and the 2/15/61 dates of birth,” according to Carris.
Carris expressed her concerns with the date-of-birth findings, in addition to Medina’s answers to authorities regarding any trips she may have made to the Dominican Republic:
Carris then pointed out that it was Medina who “issued the most fake IDs” out of all the clerks charged in connection with the scheme and was “the main target in the investigation.”
Carris also noted that Medina has two alien files in her name but posited that authorities “don’t know if they are the same person at this point.”
Medina’s public defender, attorney Scott Lauer, told Bowler that Medina’s mother had told her that she was born on Feb. 14, and that officials in the Dominican Republic mistakenly issued her a Feb. 15 birth certificate.
Medina has since retained the services of Boston-based criminal defense attorney R. Bradford Bailey.
Lauer, meanwhile, pointed out that Medina graduate from Boston Public Schools, which has her birthdate on file as Feb. 14.
Lauer then addresses concerns about Medina’s answers regarding her travel to-and-from the Dominican Republic:
Bowler told Lauer she has confirmed that pretrial service officials “have concerns about the frequency of travel,” and ordered Medina to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet, synced to her landline, and maintain an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
Medina is scheduled to reappear before Bowler in courtroom 25 at 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Evelyn Medina, one of four RMV clerks charged in connection with a drivers license scheme tailored for illegal aliens, posted to Facebook this photo of herself apparently taken at her place of work, the Haymarket RMV office in Boston. (Facebook) 
