Thirty-year-old Henry Alberto Batista, a prior Las Vegas emissions inspector, pleaded guilty to making false statements to the Department of Motor Vehicles in the state of Nevada.

The court sentenced him to six months prison time to begin no later then Oct 3 after he pled guilty in March. His plea consisted of one count of submitting false information to the Department of Motor Vehicles. On his release, he will be required to serve six months confined to his home and three years on supervised probation.

Daniel Bogden, U. S. Attorney for Nevada announced that Batista pleaded guilty to willingly falsifying one record. Indications are that he falsified between 1,000 and 1,600 smog test documents during his reign as emissions inspector.

The falsifications of the licensed Nevada smog emissions inspector went undiscovered until the Department of Motor Vehicles decided to search out fraud in the states smog emissions testing program.

The Department of Motor Vehicle hired a contractor to set up a car identification system. Upon completion, the new database revealed that over 4,000 Nevada residents received bogus smog emission certifications.

The state issued the erroneous documents when Batista fooled the smog emissions analyzer into passing unqualified cars. According to government officials, he used substitute cars that could pass the emission standards test. In addition, Batista used a computer program that sent phony information to the analyzer. Both resulted in false certifications.

Officials from the U. S. Attorneys office added that Batistas brother, Louis, pled guilty to the same charge in May. His sentence consisted of jail time served plus three years probation. After serving seven months in jail, he is now on house confinement.