Fake Paper Plate Scammer Gets 5 Years in Prison, Then Deported
News from the Gimmigrant wire.
Illegal Sent to Prison for Texas Paper Plate Scam
Paper tags are out in Texas, and one of the scam’s biggest fish just got fried.
Emmanuel Padilla Reyes (three names), an illegal, was sentenced to five years in federal prison and ordered to pay $22M in restitution to the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles for a nationwide fraud conspiracy involving fraudulent Texas paper vehicle tags using fake car dealerships.
Reyes and his co-illegal-conspirators sold over 550,000 fake Texas paper vehicle tags which they advertised on places like Facebook and Instagram. These fake tags were used to evade registration, insurance, and law enforcement detection, additionally, some tags were used to facilitate crimes and in once case involved a fatal crash.
Reyes pleaded guilty in May of 2025 and faces removal proceedings after his sentence.
Everyone knows paper tags are an illegal alien thing. Rather than solve the problem of illegal aliens everywhere, Texas lawmakers simply eliminated paper tags (HB 718) and they will no longer be valid on July 1st of next year.
Most Texans knew to steer clear of any beat up Corolla or Nissan with paper plates.