Tennessee Drivers License Examiner Indicted for Bribery

A Nashville woman employed as a driver license examiner for the Tennessee Department of Safety (TDOS), Latoya Cooper, 35 and a Murfreesboro man, Terry Biles, 37, have been indicted on charges of bribery and conspiracy to commit bribery.

A three-count indictment was returned against them by a federal grand jury in Nashville. The first count charges both of them with conspiracy to commit bribery concerning programs receiving federal funds. The second count charges Biles with offering and giving bribes concerning programs receiving federal funds. The third count charges Cooper with accepting and agreeing to accept bribes concerning programs receiving federal funds.

This is the second indictment against them and as such the first one supercedes it. In the first indictment it says that between July 2003 and September 2007 they conspired together and with others to issue driver licenses to people not authorized to receive them. Cooper was a driver license examiner and as such, she had the authority to issue Tennessee drivers' licenses to people who could provide proper proof of identity, proof that they resided in Tennessee and proof that they were U.S. citizens or that they were a lawful permanent resident. And they were supposed to satisfy other requirements necessary to get a drivers license, namely passing written, road, and vision tests.

The indictment charges that Biles, Cooper and others conspired to commit bribery in association with the business of a state agency that received federal funding, in this case the TDOS. Biles paid bribes to Cooper in return for Cooper issuing Tennessee drivers' license to people that both of them knew were not eligible to have a license.

Biles found persons who wanted a license that they were not eligible for and whose information would be false. Biles would then direct these individuals, who are only referred to as persons A,B,C and D in the indictment, to Cooper at a TDOS station where she would issue the license.

The indictment also alleges that due to the effort of Biles and others, the fake license recipients were given false social security cards and birth certificates to use in getting the false license, and that they used false names, addressed, dates of birth and social security numbers to obtain the drivers licenses.

The indictment alleges that this was done for at least 100 applicants and that Cooper agreed to accept and in fact did accept bribes from Biles totaling more than $5,000. It also alleges that Biles accepted cash himself in order to help them get a Tennessee drivers license.

An indictment is only a list of charges being brought against an individual. It does not prove that anyone is guilty. The defendants are to be considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Source; FBI http://memphis.fbi.gov/