A driving instructor who arranged for illegal immigrants to get Hawaii driver’s licenses without taking the written and road tests is going to jail for three months.
U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright sentenced In Chan Park on Monday to the jail term, to be followed by a year of court-supervised release, and fined him $1,000.
Park, 53, who pleaded guilty to one count of fraud, also faces possible deportation.
He has six weeks to turn himself in to begin serving his jail term.
In the meantime he remains free on $25,000 unsecured signature bond.
Park admitted that he accepted $2,000 from a person for whom he arranged to get a driver’s license from the city without having to take the written and road tests, and later sold that person someone else’s Social Security card.
He also admitted that he accepted $5,000 from the same person for a driver’s license for someone else, and escorted both people to a satellite city hall to have their pictures taken and accept their licenses.
Seabright said that according to Park’s confidential presentence report, former city driver’s licensing clerk Paige Teruya admitted she produced 10 fraudulent driver’s licenses for Park.
The city said Teruya, 47, who worked at the satellite city hall on Dillingham Boulevard in Kapalama, resigned March 22. She is scheduled to be sentenced next month.
Seabright said the report also said Park told a confidential source that he had eight Social Security cards to sell.
Through a Korean-language interpreter, Park apologized to the court, apologized for involving Teruya in his scheme and promised to not get in trouble again.
His lawyer, William Domingo, said Park continues to teach driving but that he no longer accepts foreigners as students.
As part of his plea deal with the government, Park agreed to cooperate with the government’s effort to pursue others who might be involved in related or similar activity.
Federal prosecutor Michael Song said Park has spoken with investigators. However, the information he provided has so far not resulted in the prosecution of others.
