Trail of unusual clues led investigators to fraud charges against BMV employees

First, an Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles employee noticed that customers who had failed several written driving tests were suddenly seeking permits and licenses.

Then, investigators found that many who had failed those tests in their preferred language were passing the tests in English at the BMV’s Midtown Indianapolis branch.  And those tests were being entered into the system at odd hours.

Investigators said in court documents that they found several clues that would lead to charges of bribery and official misconduct earlier this month against two BMV employees accused of submitting passing scores for written tests that drivers never took.

On Aug. 7, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office announced the felony charges against Winters Ann VanDyke, 33, and Gabriella C. Perry, 45, former Midtown branch customer-service employees. Between June 2023 and February 2024, the defendants entered passing scores for nearly 400 written driving tests that were never taken, allowing the customers to get their learner’s permits or driver’s licenses unlawfully, according to a news release from the inspector general’s office.

The Marion County Prosecutor’s Office did not immediately respond to questions about whether the customers who allegedly paid for the false tests also will be charged. 

The Indiana Lawyer reached out twice to VanDyke and Perry for comment using possible emails tied to them but did not hear back. No attorneys were listed in court documents for the defendants.  

The Indiana Office of Inspector General began its investigation in February 2024 after receiving a complaint from the Indiana BMV about 388 fake written driver’s tests produced at the Midtown branch. A probable cause affidavit filed in the case says the employees used their assigned username and self-generated password log-in credentials to log into customers’ accounts, create digital versions of the written tests and then falsely state that they customers passed the tests despite never administering them.

An investigator said BMV representatives told him they noticed several things that arose suspicion about the fake tests.

For starters, the customers who sought a permit or license did so at a BMV branch in a different location from the Midtown branch, where they received their passing scores. BMV representatives told investigators that it’s unusual for someone to seek a permit or license from one branch after having taken a written exam at another.

Representatives also told an investigator that many of the customers who got the fabricated tests had failed several times before, and these customers were known to the BMV staff to speak English as a second language.

Further, representatives confirmed that the Midtown branch was significantly out of the way for many of the customers, who would’ve passed several closer branches before reaching the Midtown branch.

BMV representatives also confirmed that many of the false test scores were entered into the system before or after the Midtown branch’s business hours. Representatives said that while there are circumstances in which some customers could be permitted to take a test shortly before a branch opens, there was no record of a supervisor approving those tests.

Finally, representatives noted that the fake tests were never printed on paper, which is required for customers to take the written exam. Instead, the falsified tests were created digitally and entered directly into the system.

At least two customers who received fabricated tests were told by co-workers at their separate factory jobs that they could call “Patrick” and, for $500, that person could get them licenses, according to court documents.

 A few days after delivering the payment, the customers, who said they were from Haiti, went to different BMVs around the state and received their drivers permit after only having taken a vision test.  

During the investigation, Perry admitted to producing the fake tests using names and personal data that had been provided to her, court documents state. She told investigators that she received payments of $75-$100 for each test she fabricated.  

She said defendant Winters VanDyke and another person paid her for producing the tests, according to investigators. A subpoena for Perry’s CashApp account showed that VanDyke transferred more than $5,000 to Perry across 45 financial transactions between Sept. 13, 2023, and Feb. 2, 2024.  

The cases are State of Indiana v. Gabriella Carol Perry, 49D20-2608-F5-024185 and State of Indiana v. Winters Vandyke, 49D20-2608-F5-024189.