Federal investigators have charged two current and two former Massachusetts State Police (MSP) troopers, along with two others, alleging the six traded favors in exchange for giving passing scores to certain applicants in a fraudulent commercial driver’s license (CDL) scheme.
According to the 74-count indictment, active members of the MSP’s Commercial Driver’s Licensing unit, including Sgt. Gary Cederquist, 58, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, and Trooper Joel Rogers, 54, of Bridgewater, were arrested Tuesday and were scheduled to appear in federal court in Boston later that day.
Retired MSP Troopers Calvin Butner, 63, of Halifax, and Perry Mendes, 63, of Wareham, were each arrested Monday in Florida.
Scott Camara, 42, of Rehoboth, and Eric Mathison, 47, of Boston, were also arrested Tuesday and appeared in federal court before being released. Both were named as friends of Cederquist in the indictment.
Court documents state that Camara worked for a truck-driving school in Brockton, Massachusetts, and Mathison worked for a spring water company with warehouses in the state.
Another individual, identified in court records as the “friend conspirator,” was also a friend of Cederquist and worked for a construction management and general contracting firm in Nashua, New Hampshire.
“As set forth in the indictment, the defendants allegedly displayed no regard for the public safety consequences of allowing people who didn’t pass the test to have a CDL and operate commercial trucks,” Acting U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts Joshua Levy said at a press conference Tuesday.
According to the 75-page indictment, Levy said the defendants allegedly joked about “golden treatments and golden handshakes, referring to giving guarantee passes to certain CDL applicants, regardless of how they did on test.”
“In one text, defendant Butner, a Massachusetts State Trooper, allegedly talks about an applicant who is performing required maneuvers and he described him as ‘a mess’ and [Butner] said that the applicant owes Cederquist ‘Prime Rib’ for passing the test,” Levy said.
The individuals were indicted on three counts of conspiracy to falsify records; three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion; three counts of extortion; six counts of honest services mail fraud; 31 counts of falsification of records; 27 counts of false statements; and one count of perjury.
According to Levy, more than two dozen drivers allegedly received CDLs who did not pass the test or did not take the test in exchange for bribes.
The indictment states that Cederquist allegedly received a new driveway, valued at $10,000, a $1,900 snowblower and a $750 granite post and mailbox in exchange for passing drivers on their Class A CDL skills tests, which are mandated by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to drive a tractor-trailer.
All CDL recipients identified as not passing the CDL skills test have been reported to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, the U.S. attorney’s office said in a statement.
This is a developing story.
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