NJ truckers, sex offenders cited for fake licenses

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — A yearlong effort to uncover New Jersey motorists who use fake identities to get driver’s licenses has produced an initial wave of 38 criminal prosecutions.

They include five sex offenders and 29 other motorists whose real licenses had been suspended

In all, state officials said Tuesday that more than 600 potential criminal cases have been referred to prosecutors in “Operation Facial Scrub.”

The first motorists charged include an Old Bridge truck driver whose real and fake licenses have been suspended 64 times, including six times for drunken driving violations. A bus driver from Hackensack was found to have used the name of a dead man.

The state used facial-recognition technology to scan all 19 million photos in the Motor Vehicle Commission system to see if different names could be associated with the same photos.