temporary driver's license personally delivered by DeArza. The CS later received both Texas driver's licenses by United States mail. Maen Bittar, 46, of Houston, the operator of a Houston Conoco gas station, plead guilty before U.S. District Judge Gray Miller—admitting collecting fees from individuals, such as illegal aliens, in amounts of $3000 or more to arrange with DPS employees Mark DeArza, a DPS Trooper, and Lidia Gutierrez, a DPS clerk, to process applications and receive driver's licenses for these unqualified individuals. In 2010, a Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) trooper was sentenced to four years in prison for depriving multiple motorists of their civil rights, U.S. Attorney José Angel Moreno and Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights Thomas E. Perez announced. Michael Anthony Higgins (March 3, 1967 – April 29, 2010), 42, formerly of the Corpus Christi area, was found guilty on January 13, 2010, by a jury's verdict on all four counts of the indictment of willfully stealing money from motorists he stopped on the highway while working as a trooper. In addition to the four-year prison term, U.S. District Judge John D. Rainey ordered Higgins to pay $850 restitution, representing the money he took from the motorists, and will serve a one-year term of supervised release following completion of his prison term. Upon motion of the government, Judge Rainey ordered Higgins, previously released on bond, to be immediately remanded to the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service. Higgins was prosecuted for stopping motorists who appeared to be of Hispanic descent and stealing their money, usually in amounts of several hundred dollars. As a result of the civilian complaints, DPS, in conjunction with the Texas Rangers, initiated an undercover operation to investigate Higgins. An undercover police officer posed as a civilian of Hispanic descent with limited English language ability, and was issued several pre-recorded $100 bills. While being monitored by DPS aerial surveillance, the undercover officer drove past Higgins' duty area in Kleberg County, and was eventually stopped by Higgins. Upon making the traffic stop, Higgins asked the undercover officer for money in his possession, and then took the money behind the passenger side door of his police cruiser. After Higgins returned bills to the officer, the officer realized that some of the money was missing. Texas Rangers and DPS officers confronted Higgins and, upon inspection of the police cruiser, found two of the pre-recorded $100 bills secreted