Atlanta woman gets 13-month prison sentence for car registration bribery scheme
A woman involved in a bribery scheme to fraudulently register cars for people who did not have valid Georgia driver’s licenses has been sentenced to more than a year in prison.
Lesbia Lily Gonzalez Moreno, 47, of Atlanta, was sentenced to 13 months behind bars followed by three years of supervised release, acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Georgia Kurt Erskine said Monday in a news release.
Moreno pleaded guilty to bribing Gerald D. Harris, 51, a former supervisor in the DeKalb County Tax Commissioner’s Office, by paying to illegally register cars without proper documentation, Erskine said. Between May and November 2019, Moreno repeatedly paid Harris to register cars to owners who did not present a valid driver’s license. Moreno typically paid $200 for each registration and paid Harris more than $20,000 during those several months.
In July 2020, Harris pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and blackmail and was sentenced to two years in prison followed by three years of supervised release, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported. When Harris learned he was being investigated for bribery, he attempted to blackmail one of the people from whom he had previously accepted bribes.
Harris admitted to taking more than $35,000 in bribes, the AJC reported. Erskine’s office did not say if Moreno was the person who Harris attempted to blackmail.
Moreno entered her guilty plea on June 22, Erskine said.
About the Author
Henri Hollis is a reporter and restaurant critic for the Food & Dining team. Formerly a freelance writer and photographer with a focus on food and restaurants, he joined the AJC full-time in January 2021, first covering breaking news. He is a lifelong Atlantan and a graduate of Georgia Tech.
