A 30-year-old Virginia bus driver who was axed from her job turned the tables and scammed the system by peddling more than 100 phony driver’s licenses, federal prosecutors said.
Ashya Janai Harley admitted that she ran the fake license scam for more than a year, charging her illicit customers $300 a pop for a standard license or $450 for a commercial driver’s license – and now faces 15 years behind bars when she’s sentenced in September, the feds announced.
Federal prosecutors in Virginia said fired bus driver Ashya Janai Harley, 30, peddled more than 100 phony driver’s licenses for as much as $450 each. M Einero/peopleimages.com – stock.adobe.com
Federal prosecutors said a former bus driver trainee in Virginia peddled more than 100 phony licenses — and now faces 15 years in prison. Refrina – stock.adobe.comIn all, she cranked out 124 faux licenses, the US Attorney in Eastern Virginia said.
Prosecutors said Harley was running the illicit service from at least May 2022 to August 2023, getting clients through personal ads or Instagram accounts or referrals from friends.
Using her own forged documents, Harley worked briefly as a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority bus driver in July 2022 – but didn’t make it out of training and was fired in October.
Prosecutors said she began selling the phony licenses during her training, but that’s not what got her fired. It is unclear why she was axed.
Harley electronically altered driving transcripts and records such as proof of residency to apply for the licenses.
The operation oversaw the creation of 54 fraudulent license applications and used her mother’s address in Alexandria on more than 67 proof-of-residency documents.
She is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 26.
