Santa Paula Mayor’s Wife Under Probe in Driver’s License Fraud

The wife of Santa Paula’s mayor is the subject of a probe by the California Department of Motor Vehicles into whether she and others conspired to sell driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants, court records show.

Last week, investigators searched the home of Mayor Ray Luna and his wife, Rosemarie Mejia-Luna, who has worked at the DMV office in Santa Paula for 25 years.

Authorities were seeking evidence of allegations that Mejia-Luna was part of a network that distributed fraudulent driver’s licenses from September 1999 to December 2000, according to search warrant affidavits filed last week in Ventura County Superior Court.

On at least six occasions, illegal Mexican immigrants paid from $1,000 to $1,800 to apply for driver’s licenses at other DMV offices in Southern California and pass driving tests at the Santa Paula field office, the documents state.

Mejia-Luna’s attorney, Robert Schwartz, said Monday that his client “categorically denies any and all involvement with any illegal activity.”

Mayor Luna could not be reached for comment Monday. Last week, he said he stood by his wife and thanked the community for supporting the family under “this cloud of suspicion.”

Investigators are expected to finish the probe in the next few weeks and forward the information to the Ventura County district attorney’s office, which will decide whether to file criminal charges, said DMV spokesman Bill Branch.

To obtain a driver’s license in California, applicants must show proof of legal residence, pass written and driving tests and pay a $12 fee. There is no cost for the driving test, Branch said.

Search warrant affidavits served Feb. 14 on the Lunas’ Santa Paula home and on Mejia-Luna’s workstation at the DMV office were filed Friday afternoon in Superior Court.

The affidavits show that investigators interviewed six illegal immigrants and a DMV manager in Santa Paula.

Two applicants for driver’s licenses told DMV investigator Elva R. Godoy in December 2000 that they had purchased their licenses from Leticia Martinez and Carlos Savala. The documents did not state where Martinez and Savala were based.

According to the affidavits, Martinez, whom applicants knew as “Jessica,” and Savala arranged for applicants to apply for licenses and take the written test at DMV offices in Bakersfield, Hollywood and San Clemente using fake birth certificates.

They typically charged $1,200, but some were charged as much as $1,800, according to the documents.

That price included $200 to $300 to guarantee that applicants passed a driving test, which was conducted at the Santa Paula office. Mejia-Luna administered those behind-the-wheel tests, the documents state.

On at least one occasion, she was observed taking money from the car’s console when the test was complete, the documents state.

In all six cases, the documents state, DMV records show that Mejia-Luna updated computer records to indicate each person had passed the driving test.

That information was then sent to the agency’s Sacramento headquarters.