NEW YORK CITY – New York State Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott announced today that a key player in an extensive fraud scheme that provided state commercial driver licenses (“CDL”) to unqualified motorists through cheating and bribery was sentenced to federal prison.
Marie Daniel, 52, of 106th Avenue, Queens Village, was sentenced in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York to 36 months in prison for her role as a fraudulent test taker for CDL applicants.
Daniel was charged in 2013 with conspiracy to commit mail fraud for her part in providing New York State Department of Motor Vehicle (“DMV”) commercial driver license applicants with answers to written tests – including tests to obtain permission to transport hazardous materials and operate school buses. Ten others were also charged for their role in organizing and operating the scheme and were charged in federal court. Thirty-four others were charged in state court with cheating on the examinations.
“This defendant was a key player in a crime ring that enabled cheaters and unqualified individuals to obtain licenses to drive heavy trucks, hazardous materials, and even school buses on our roads and highways,” said Inspector General Leahy Scott. “She undermined the system designed ensure the general public’s safety. Her prison sentence is both appropriate and necessary to send the message that those who perpetrate fraud will be held accountable.”
The fraud was uncovered after Inspector General Leahy Scott’s office learned about an organized effort by several individuals in New York City who were being paid between $1,400 and $4,000 by CDL applicants seeking answers to written tests. CDL applicants take a “core” examination, and then supplemental tests called “endorsements” for specified areas such as hazardous material transport, school bus driving, and the operation of tandem trailer trucks and tow trucks.
The organizers of this scheme bribed three security guards at DMV offices in lower Manhattan and Harlem to assist them. The ensuing investigation by Inspector General Leahy Scott, the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Affairs Bureau of the New York City Police Department (IAB), and DMV’s Division of Field Investigations revealed cash transactions between applicants and the scheme organizers, as well as cash transactions between the organizers and security guards. Specifically, CDL applicants would leave the testing area and hand their blank answer sheets to one of the members of the fraud ring, who would deliver the blank test to Daniel to complete, often while seated in a nearby fast food restaurant.
The runner would return the completed exam to the CDL test taker. The test taker would then return to the testtaking area. After submitting the completed exam to DMV clerks for processing, the test takers would depart the premises and pay a member of the fraud ring.
All federal and state defendants in the case have since pleaded or been found guilty for their crimes related to the fraud.
Inspector General Leahy Scott thanked U.S. Attorney of the Eastern District of New York Robert L. Capers and his office for prosecuting this and related federal cases, and New York County District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr., for prosecuting the test cheaters in state court. She also thanked the New York City Police Department Internal Affairs Bureau, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General Investigations, New York State Police Department, New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Division of Field Investigations, and New York State Office of the Attorney General Investigations Bureau for their roles in investigating this fraud.
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