A traffic school owner arrested for selling fraudulent documents out of his school is free after posting bail, police said Friday.
Otto Escobar of Granada Hills was taken into custody, at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s West Hollywood Station after investigators searched his home, his vehicle and his Van Nuys business, O.K. Driving and Traffic School in the 6700 block of Hazeltine Avenue, Detective Ron Sabatine of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Commercial Crimes Bureau said in a statement.
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“Among the evidence seized from the three locations, were dozens of rubber stamps with fraudulent State and Federal seals, several reams of DMV paper containing the State of California seal and several blank Guatemalan passports,” he said.
Escobar manufactured Guatemalan passports, traffic school completion certificates and Department of Homeland Security forms that provided temporary entry into the United States, according to Sabatine.
Escobar sold these fake documents at his driving school to members of the public as well as to undercover law enforcement officers, Sabatine said.
The investigation, which dates back to June 2008, involved the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Commercial Crimes Bureau, the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Homeland Security Investigations and the California Department of Motor Vehicles Investigations Division, according to Sabatine.
Other charges against Escobar are pending, Sabatine said.
Escobar is now free after posting a $20,000 bail, according to Sabatine.
This article originally appeared on northridge
