Adriana Ferreira, a clerk at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Watertown, was known in the local Brazilian community as someone who could “fix things.” For a price, she told illegal immigrants, she could hook them up with driver’s licenses or even prod federal immigration officials to get their loved ones out of custody, prosecutors said.

Ferreira, 48, of Brighton, took in thousands of dollars between 2009 and 2011 and not once did she deliver, authorities said. When her clients confronted her, she threatened them by saying she would call police or US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. In some instances, she did call.