A Portland-area car thief was aided in his prolific criminal career by a girlfriend who worked inside Oregon’s Department of Motor Vehicles.

Israel Fonseca was recently sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to dozens of charges, according to news reports. His plea deal included leniant treatment for his girlfriend, Valarie Applegate, who was sentenced to just a single night in jail, three years probation, and 160 hours of community service. And, of course, she lost her DMV job where she had worked for 10 years with an unblemished work record.

The pair worked the system several different ways. Sometimes Fonseca would see a car he wanted to steal, and ask Applegate to look up the owner’s residence. He would then track the owner when they went to a movie or sent shopping, and steal the car from a parking lot, or simply strip expensive aftermarket parts while the owners were occupied.

She also did favors for people scheduled to take drivers tests, in one case offering to take them on a practice run on the drivers test route. And she checked to see whether stolen license plates were still valid, and passed the information over to Fonseca, who would offer them for sale online.

Their criminal partnership wasn’t suspected by the DMV until a police detective approached them about the case, although the agency boasts five fraud investigations on staff.

It makes me wonder what fraud prevention systems and procedures are in place here in Hawaii to deter or identify similar problems.