A former RMV worker is accused of running a scam to accept cash bribes from customers looking to expedite their transactions, in effect providing a “private concierge title and registration service,” officials said.
Ashlee Jordan, 29, of Bridgewater, was arraigned Wednesday in Norfolk Superior Court on charges of bribery, unwarranted privileges, and conspiracy to commit title fraud, state Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell’s office said in a statement.
Jordan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance, records show. It wasn’t immediately clear who represented her at her arraignment.
Campbell’s office said Jordan had started working as a title clerk at the RMV’s Quincy headquarters in 2019.
Once the pandemic hit and transaction times lagged, Jordan allegedly saw an opportunity, prosecutors said.
She allegedly ”exploited these delays and misused her position to operate what essentially amounted to a private concierge title and registration service, taking personal payments to complete customers’ RMV transactions at a speed that was not available to ordinary citizens,” prosecutors said.
For a fee, Jordan would let customers jump the line and have their transactions processed overnight, prosecutors said. She would also allegedly accept shoddy paperwork and allow customers to skip critical steps like a required salvage inspection before obtaining a reconstructed title for cars that had been rebuilt.
Prosecutors alleged that Jordan even promoted “her services at a car enthusiast’s social club” while wearing an RMV lanyard around her neck.
The alleged scheme netted her significant sums until September 2021, when she was placed on leave, officials said.
“This income dwarfed her legitimate income as an RMV employee (under $50,000 per year),” prosecutors said in a court filing, adding that her Venmo and Cash App deposits from the alleged scheme “totaled over $77,000.”
The alleged scheme coincided with a noticeable spike in her “luxury spending,” prosecutors said, including more than $4,000 on a trip to Florida in July 2021, “and purchases exceeding $500 at multiple retailers including Sephora, Macy’s, Pet Smart, Lowest Tobacco Prices, and eBay,” the filing said.
Between April and September of 2021, she also spent more than $7,000 at Encore Boston Harbor’s ”casino, restaurant, and hotel,” prosecutors said.
Jordan didn’t act alone, prosecutors said, using middlemen who ”would pay her to complete title transactions for third parties.”
One alleged accomplice, Stanley Nazaire, 47, of Somerville, was arraigned Wednesday on charges of bribery and solicitation to commit bribery, officials said. He pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance.
Prosecutors said a tow company worker told investigators that Nazaire came by “to explain that he helps local tow companies get plates and titles.”
“The employee admitted paying over $9,000 to ‘Stan’ for titling at least eight cars,” prosecutors said.
Jordan is due back in court on Dec. 15 for a pretrial conference, records show.
Travis Andersen can be reached at travis.andersen@globe.com.