The Miami-Dade Sheriff's Office arrested three men on Wednesday accused of running a fraudulent scheme to pass the computerized Florida driver's license exam, according to the official statement from the agency released this Thursday.
The arrested individuals are Karel Clavel-Beltrán, 46 years old and a resident of Hialeah; Miguel Núñez-García, 47 years old and a resident of Miami; and Alexis Franc Fernández, 63 years old and a resident of Tampa.
The operation took place around 10:00 am at the Miami-Dade Tax Collector's Office located in the Midway Crossings shopping center, at 7795 W. Flagler Street, and was conducted by detectives from the agency's Public Corruption Unit.
The MDSO statement specified that "Clavel-Beltran used strategically placed cameras and headphones to assist Mr. Miguel Nunez-Garcia and Mr. Alexis Fernandez in cheating on the computerized driving license exam."
According to the arrest report accessed by Local 10, Clavel-Beltrán was the mastermind of the scheme: he provided the other two defendants with a polo shirt equipped with a button-type hidden camera and an earpiece, devices through which he transmitted the answers to the exam from outside the location.
Núñez-García arrived at the shopping center in a white pickup truck, changed into a purple polo shirt with the hidden devices inside the vehicle, took the exam, and passed it.
Upon leaving, he met with Clavel-Beltrán inside the shopping mall and handed him 600 dollars in cash as payment for the service, after which he changed his clothes again.
It was at that moment that an officer from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles intercepted him.
Núñez-García admitted to authorities that he was carrying the electronic devices in his shirt and that Clavel-Beltrán dictated the answers to him because he does not understand English, the language in which the exam has been administered since February 6th.
According to the report, Núñez-García had failed the exam multiple times before resorting to cheating.
Fernández's case followed the same pattern, but with a different outcome: he did not pass the exam because he was unable to hear Clavel-Beltrán through the headset.
Fernández was also carrying a sum of cash to pay Clavel-Beltrán, but he was detained by an investigator before he could do so.
The agents noted that it is common practice in these schemes for candidates to wear a polo shirt to conceal recording devices and then change clothes once the exam is over.
At the time of his arrest, Clavel-Beltrán presented authorities with a Florida driver's license that bore a name different from his own, which added the charge of providing false names or identification following the arrest.
Fernández and Núñez-García face charges for cheating and illegal use of a communication device, while Clavel-Beltrán is also charged with operating a scheme to defraud.
The arrest occurs against a backdrop of growing concern over exam fraud in Miami-Dade.
In June, the Tax Collector's Office detected a similar scheme involving hidden electronic devices, although there were no immediate arrests at that time.
A factor that worsens the situation is the FLHSMV regulation that requires all tests to be conducted exclusively in English, eliminating versions in Spanish and other languages, which has increased the pressure on Spanish-speaking candidates who are not proficient in the language, like the two defendants who took the exam on Wednesday.
In April, an employee from the Miami-Dade Tax Collector's Office, Waldersee Oge, 46 years old, was arrested for issuing fraudulent driver's licenses in exchange for payments via Zelle, without the physical presence of the clients.
The Sheriff's Office warned that "attempts to obtain a driver's license through fraud or deception will not be tolerated, and those who attempt to evade the law will be investigated and held accountable."
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