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Clerk avoids prison in bribery scheme

Accused of falsifying driver's license documents, the woman pleaded guilty to reduced charges.

By COLLEEN JENKINS
Published January 30, 2007

TAMPA - Veda Renee Virgil took at least three bribes in exchange for falsifying driver's license reinstatement documents, prosecutors say.

The former Hillsborough County traffic clerk faced prison time if convicted. But Monday, she pleaded guilty to reduced charges, receiving a sentence of two years' house arrest and three years of probation.

During that time, she is not allowed to hold a government job or handle any business' money without direct supervision.

"This is to prevent her from doing this kind of thing again," said Wayne Chalu, who supervises the Hillsborough State Attorney's economic crimes unit.

A judge typically requires driver safety classes or payment of fines to get a license reinstated. Once those conditions are met, the clerks' office stamps a reinstatement form and sends it to the Florida Division of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles in Tallahassee.

A Florida Highway Patrol informer who had not met his requirements visited Virgil in the clerk's traffic division. Authorities said she told him she would stamp his form anyway in exchange for $300.

Chalu said prosecutors would have been able to prove Virgil, 32, committed the same offense three times for a total of $500 to $600 in bribes. She did not take any money from the clerk's office, he said.

She pleaded guilty to unlawful compensation by a public servant and official misconduct. Prosecutors did not charge the people who bribed her.

"We needed these people to prove the crime," Chalu said, adding they could have been charged if they did not cooperate with the investigation.

The clerk's office fired Virgil following her arrest last February. She worked there about six years, remaining employed after an arrest in 2001 for welfare fraud that resulted in a three-year felony probation term.

Through her spokeswoman, Circuit Court Clerk Pat Frank said Monday that her office implemented several security safeguards to prevent similar conduct from re-occurring.

Spokeswoman Linda Goldstein said she couldn't specify the safeguards "for safety reasons."

[Last modified January 30, 2007, 06:23:34]