Two former Massachusetts State Police (MSP) Troopers along with a commercial driving instructor have pleaded guilty to CDL fraud.
Scott Camara, a commercial driving school Instructor, pleaded guilty in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to one count of conspiracy to falsify records and one count of perjury.
Perry Mendes, a former MSP Trooper, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to falsify records, three counts of falsifying records, and two counts of making false statements.
Calvin Butner, another former MSP Trooper, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to falsify commercial driver’s license (CDL) test scores. Butner also pleaded guilty to three counts of falsifying records, aiding and abetting by giving passing scores to applicants who failed the CDL test, and five counts of making false statements by giving passing scores to applicants who did not take the test at all.
On January 25, 2024, a grand jury indicted Camara, Mendes, Butner, and others in a 74-count indictment for conspiracy to falsify records, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, honest services mail fraud, falsification of records, false statements, and perjury. The indictment alleged that from about May 2019 to January 2023, they conspired to give preferential treatment to CDL applicants by giving passing scores on their skills tests even if they had not passed or sometimes even taken the test at all.
Camara, who worked for a truck-driving school in Brockton, Mass., conspired with an additional MSP Trooper to give preferential treatment to four CDL applicants, who were also MSP Troopers, by falsely reporting that they each took and passed a skills test. The indictment further alleged that Butner and Mendes conspired to give passing scores to certain drivers of a water company in exchange for free inventory.
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Homeland Security Investigations Document and Benefit Fraud Task Force with assistance from Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
Dana Guthrie is an award-winning journalist who has been featured in multiple newspapers, books and magazines across the globe. She is currently based in the Atlanta, Georgia, area.
Should be charged with attempted murder. Willingly lying to get unqualified people behind the wheel of a semi is asking to get someone killed! Sorry not sorry but they all deserve life in prison.