The American Repossessor

13 alleged brokers and buyers of false titles also indicted | View Indictment

TRENTON – Attorney General Anne Milgram and Criminal Justice Director Deborah L. Gramiccioni announced that a former clerk for the New Jersey Motor Vehicle Commission was indicted today on charges he sold hundreds of fraudulent motor vehicle titles to various brokers and purchasers, including 13 people who were charged today in separate indictments.

According to Director Gramiccioni, Wesley Starr, 35, of Trenton, the former Motor Vehicle Commission clerk, was charged in a 20-count state grand jury indictment with conspiracy and multiple counts of official misconduct and bribery, all in the second degree, as well as multiple third-degree counts of forgery and tampering with public records or information.

Starr, who formerly worked in the Special Titles Unit of the Motor Vehicle Commission in Trenton, allegedly circumvented the regular titling procedures using a special procedure by which public agencies obtain an application for certificate of ownership for abandoned vehicles that will be sold at public auction. It is alleged that between January 2006 and November 2007, Starr used the special procedure to issue approximately 378 fraudulent vehicle titles that were sold, primarily through middlemen or "brokers," to numerous purchasers.