Two test examiners-turned-witnesses get probation
Associated Press
Posted on July 19, 2001

Two women who admitted taking payoffs while working at the state's scandal-plagued Chicago West drivers license center - and later became government witnesses - were sentenced to probation Wednesday.

"Chicago West was a hotbed of corruption," Assistant U.S. Attorney Zachary T. Fardon told U.S. District Judge James B. Zagel at the first of several sentencings in the Chicago West case being held this month.

Federal agents raided Chicago West in November 1999 as part of the government's Operation Safe Road investigation of bribes paid in return for drivers licenses when Gov. George Ryan was secretary of state.

The raid came after Ryan was elected governor but the allegations of corruption stretched back into his time as secretary. He has been accused of no wrongdoing in the case.

Veronica Martinez, 25, of Chicago was placed on probation for three years, the first six months under house arrest with an electronic monitoring bracelet attached to her leg.

Zagel also ordered her to pay a $3,000 fine and perform 300 hours of community service. She pleaded guilty in March 2000 to extortion conspiracy and admitted pocketing at least $9,500 in bribe money.

Daniela Goris, 23, of Chicago was placed on five years' probation, fined $2,500 and ordered to perform 200 hours of community service. She had pleaded guilty to not reporting $2,500 in bribe money on her taxes.

Authorities said corrupt driving school instructors slipped cash to Chicago West examiners who passed their students on their road tests. Once caught, both Martinez and Goris provided information to the government concerning corruption at the licensing center and in return federal prosecutors urged lenience for them.

Attorneys said that as part of the negotiations between the defense and the government, Goris was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor tax charge instead of to extortion conspiracy, a felony.

That was because she took less than most other Chicago West defendants and because she has lived in the United States as a resident alien since age 2 but is not a U.S. citizen. She could have been deported to the Dominican Republic if convicted of a felony, they said.

Forty-three individuals have been charged in Operation Safe Road since it got under way early in 1998. Thirty-eight have been convicted so far.