Two Men Fined After Pleading Guilty Over Fake Driver’s Licences

And two more men appeared in court today after separate incidents involving fake driver’s licences. Both pleaded guilty to uttering a false document, telling the court they had paid people who promised to help them get their licences quickly.  They are forty-three-year-old Edgar Lionel Ramos Ico, a Guatemalan salesman from Belama Phase Five, and thirty-one-year-old Julio Ernesto Lopez Gomez, a Salvadoran construction worker from Belama Phase Six.  Both visited the Belize City Traffic Department on Monday to transfer ownership of a motorcycle. In each case, an administrative officer noticed inconsistencies in the licence presented. Checks with the records department found no corresponding licence in the system.  During their appearances before the Chief Magistrate, Gomez said he bought his licence about a month ago through a contact arranged by a young man. Ico said he obtained his thirteen months ago after meeting someone at a gas station who assured him the process would be legal. Both told the court they had cooperated with police and identified the people who helped arrange the purchases.  The Chief Magistrate warned them about the seriousness of the offence and told them they could have applied through the proper channels. Both were first-time offenders.  Each was fined eight hundred dollars, plus five dollars in court costs. They have until March thirty-first, 2027, to pay or face three months in prison.