Six more suspects were sentenced this week for their role in the illegal licensing scheme uncovered in St Joseph.

The Western Missouri US Attorney’s office announced Thursday the sentencing brings the total to 16 suspects sentenced to prison with two more awaiting sentencing in the scheme.

They all conspired to provide more than 3,500 fraudulent identification documents for illegal aliens.

46-year-old Sherri Gutierrez of St Joseph was sentenced to five years in federal prison Wednesday and 33-year-old Brenda De La Cruz of San Antonio Texas was sentenced to four years. Gutierrez’s daughter, 27-year-old Shayna Vanvacter, was sentenced two years also on Tuesday.

Three others were sentenced Tuesday. 32-year-old Elder Enrique Ordonez Chanas of Guatemala was sentenced to five years, 30-year-old Luis Adalberto Felipe-Lopez of Guatemala was sentenced to four years and 32-year-old Rafael Hernandez-Ortis of Mexico was sentenced two years.

Conspirators helped illegal aliens obtain birth certificates and Social Security cards in the names of others. Those documents were used to obtain either a Missouri driver’s or non-driver’s license at the St. Joseph license office.

The illegal aliens were usually charged between $1,500 and $1,600 for the document sets and the Missouri driver’s and non-driver’s licenses. It is estimated that more than $5,250,000 in gross proceeds was paid by illegal aliens.