Driving school owner bribed test examiner with $17,000 to pass his students, feds say

Unqualified applicants passed their road tests and received driver’s licenses because the owner of a Massachusetts driving school bribed the examiner, according to federal authorities.

Some of the applicants received a license without even taking the test, officials said.

Now, a 61-year-old man from Brockton has been sentenced to six months in prison followed by a year of supervised release, according to an Aug. 17 news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. The first half of supervised release much be served in home confinement.

His defense attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News on Aug. 18.

The defense attorney told McClatchy News in April that his client pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud “because it was in his best interest.”

The driving school owner and instructor paid a road test examiner at the Brockton Registry of Motor Vehicles service center $17,000 to pass certain applicants, authorities said.

The scheme started in 2019, when the man asked the examiner to help some of his relatives pass the test, according to the government’s sentencing memorandum filed in court. The examiner agreed to help, the memorandum says.

The instructor then asked the examiner to pass students “who were too scared to take the road test,” prosecutors said. He’s also accused of saying they could make money together.

“(He) started paying the (examiner) – at first in cash and then through CashApp – to give passing scores to students who failed the road test and even students who did not show up for the test,” according to court records.

One student had failed the online learner’s permit test 20 times before paying someone to take the test on their behalf, authorities said. The student then paid the instructor for two driving lessons.

The instructor offered the student a way to get a license without taking the driving test, according to the sentencing memorandum. The student agreed to pay $300, and the instructor bribed the examiner with half of the money, prosecutors said.

Another student paid $400, officials said, and a third person paid $200.

The three students received driver’s licenses in the mail, according to court records.

Officials said the instructor bribed the examiner more than 70 times in about a year and a half.

“Each bribe guaranteed that the applicant would receive a passing score on their road test – even if they failed, or even if they did not take the test at all – and thereby receive a driver’s license,” prosecutors said. “To put it plainly, (he) participated in a long-term public corruption scheme that endangered public safety by putting unqualified drivers on the road.”

The RMV conducted an internal investigation that ended in February 2022, officials said. They discovered the examiner “had falsely reported that as many as 2,100 people had passed the road test,” according to the sentencing memorandum.

The department fired the examiner, officials said, and suspended the 2,100 licenses. Affected drivers then had to pass a road test for the suspension to be lifted.

“In the end, the students who paid (their teacher) to avoid taking a road test had to take one anyway,” according to court records.

In addition to prison time and supervised released, the instructor is ordered to pay a $17,000 forfeiture money judgment, according to the release.

“This was not a victimless crime,” officials said. “Because of (the instructor’s) actions, the RMV issued licenses to more than 70 unqualified people. The RMV’s road test is designed to ensure the safety of every driver, passenger, cyclist, and pedestrian on the roads and highways of Massachusetts – and every other state where Massachusetts licensees drive.

“Paying bribes in exchange for passing scores for applicants who failed the road test or did not even take it subverted the system and risked putting everyone in harm’s way,” officials continued.

Brockton is about 25 miles south of Boston.

This story was originally published August 18, 2023 at 2:16 PM with the headline "Driving school owner bribed test examiner with $17,000 to pass his students, feds say."