Official probed for helping Irishman get license

AUGUSTA – Despite public outcry over the way bank robber Niall Clarke was issued the Maine driver’s license that enabled him to purchase the handgun used in the robbery, Secretary of State Matthew Dunlap said the investigation into the situation must be allowed to run its course.

Clarke obtained the license with the assistance of Robert O’Connell, director of licensing services at the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles, after the two men met in a Boston bar on St. Patrick’s Day 2006. Irish national Clarke told O’Connell he was having problems getting a license in Massachusetts, and O’Connell suggested he consider applying for one in Maine. Maine is one of a handful of states that do not require residency to obtain licenses.

In sentencing Clarke to nearly 10 years in federal prison on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bangor, Judge John Woodcock said he found the way O’Connell helped Clarke “troubling.”

“I would discourage those who might move to Maine to take advantage of this law from doing so,” he said.

At a press conference after the sentencing, U.S. Attorney Paula Silsby said O’Connell had not broken any laws, but referred to the judge’s comments.

“The judge’s recognition that we need to deter illegal immigrants from taking advantage of Maine’s licensing laws is important,” she said. “In this instance, that system failed.”

Silsby, who was appointed by President Bush in 2001, has argued that the state should take part in the national Real ID program.

Dunlap said Tuesday that his department would cooperate fully with the external investigation that has been contracted with an outside, independent investigator by the Attorney General’s Office. Dunlap said his department would be paying for the investigation, though he had yet to sign the contract or be interviewed by the investigator.

“I know people are screaming for Bob’s blood, but I think we have to be responsive to the situation in a formal manner and that’s why I took the attorney general’s advice about conducting an investigation,” Dunlap said. “Hopefully, we’ll get this done fairly quickly and then I think we need to move on.”

Dunlap said the investigation would determine whether O’Connell violated any state laws or department policies by assisting Clarke in obtaining a license.

According to an affidavit filed by Assistant U.S. Attorney Todd Lowell, who prosecuted Clarke at U.S. District Court in Bangor, Clarke was a legal visitor to the country under a nonimmigrant visa when he was issued a Maine license on April 12, 2006. Before that, Clarke and O’Connell had exchanged a series of e-mails about the requirements for obtaining a license. Clarke’s visa expired two weeks after the license was issued.

Clarke, 27, later used the license to purchase the handgun that he used to rob the Bank of America branch on Bangor Mall Boulevard on Oct. 4, 2006.

Although he was not a resident of Maine when he obtained a license, Clarke managed – with O’Connell assisting him with the paperwork – to take the written, vision and road tests and was issued a license all on the same day.

O’Connell has been with state government for more than 20 years and is still on the job. When federal investigators interviewed O’Connell, he admitted that he believed Clarke was in the country illegally when he assisted him with getting a license.

Dunlap addressed the residency issue when he spoke with the Legislature’s Transportation Committee last week. He said Maine has never had a residency requirement because it was not deemed important until recently. Criticism about the policy came to a head after a group of nonresidents were prosecuted by federal authorities for bringing people in from out-of-state to get driver’s licenses.

Dunlap suggested that a residency policy could be enacted during this year’s legislative session. He said that to show residency, applicants could be required to present the Bureau of Motor Vehicles with a passport, utility bill or rent receipt. He said the state should not be required to check applicants’ immigration status.

Dunlap said Tuesday that he understood the anger and passion people felt about the situation but that the investigation needed to be conducted to bring the matter to an end.

“It probably would be the easy thing to put Bob under suspension, throw him under the bus, but the fact is we have to let the process work,” Dunlap said.

wgriffin@bangordailynews.net

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