#Hernandez auto tags drivers#
#Hernandez auto tags registration#

Why would drivers prefer paper plates?ĭrivers want the tags to be anonymous avoiding apprehension, vehicle inspections, and taxes. “How do you know that the person that is inputting that information is being truthful? We don’t have a way of validating that.”įast forward four years, in five minutes’ time in Southwest Houston we spotted more than five paper plates in less than two miles.

#Hernandez auto tags registration#

“If someone has an invalid driver’s license, that is not something that is verified and checked during the registration process,” said Jeremiah Kuntz, Texas DMV-2017 interview. And back then the DMV admitted it was a problem. In 2017 KPRC 2 Investigates went undercover to purchase fraudulent paper tags advertised on Facebook. KPRC 2 Investigates fraudulent paper tags But federal court documents show this pair created four fictitious used car dealerships for the sole purpose of buying and printing some 580,000 paper tags they sold all over the country. In Texas, used car dealers pay for paper tags on the DMV’s web portal and print them out as customers buy vehicles. They got them all through the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles. the FBI says he worked with Ocasio and 39-year-old Leidy Areli Hernandez Lopez, a Honduran woman living in Houston, in a nationwide scheme to sell hundreds of thousands of fraudulent Texas paper tags. Emmanuel Padilla Reyes aka Christian Hernandez Bonilla is a fugitive. He was just arrested in New York this week. On social media, Octavian Ocasio boldly advertised the fraudulent sale of paper tags in the months before the FBI charged him with conspiracy and wire fraud. (Often times criminals use vehicles with paper plates so they can get away with no trace.) These changes would be a start to stopping certain crimes. Bill to fight fraudulent paper tagsįraudulent paper tags have become such a problem in Texas that lawmakers passed a bill in the last legislative session to make changes to how temporary tags are administered and allow the DMV to set the maximum number of paper tags licensed dealers can issue. Many of you are asking KPRC 2 Investigates, “Who is keeping track,” and “Who is issuing the tags that make it difficult to find out who’s driving the vehicles they’re on?” Our KPRC 2 Investigates team is getting answers. HOUSTON – If you’ve spent any time driving on Houston roadways, you’ve probably noticed there seem to be more temporary paper license plates.