Massachusetts driving school manager convicted in Mass State Police bribery scandal is sentenced to prison

A driving school manager who was convicted in the Mass State Police bribery outrage has been sentenced to federal prison Scott Camara will face one month behind bars for his role in the scheme to falsify records by giving passing scores to four Commercial Driver s License CDL applicants who did not take the CDL skills test as required by federal law Camara who s from Rehoboth also pleaded guilty to perjury for lying to a federal grand jury His month in prison will be followed by one year of supervised release The Massachusetts U S Attorney s office was seeking a sentence of months in prison one year of supervised release and a fine of Last year Camara was charged in a -count indictment along with five others in the conspiracy and related schemes The defendants included Gary Cederquist a friend of Camara who was the sergeant in charge of the Mass State Police s CDL unit He Camara knew the requirements of a CDL skills test and knew why the test was formidable because putting unqualified drivers of heavy trucks and buses on the road risks residents safety the feds wrote in their sentencing memo According to the charging documents Camara conspired with Cederquist to give passing scores to four MSP troopers who had applied for Class A CDLs but who did not really take the required CDL skills test More than the bulk CDL holders Mr Camara knew the risks involved in letting unqualified applicants get their CDLs the feds wrote He put his friendship with Cederquist ahead of the dangers he knew about when he conspired to falsify records enabling four unqualified troopers to receive their Class A CDLs The test takers were given preferential healing by Cederquist who falsely disclosed that each trooper took and passed a Class A skills test However in reality Camara drove around the testing site with each of the four troopers in a truck cab which did not qualify as a Class A conveyance because it did not have an attached trailer Neither Cederquist or any other member of the CDL unit administered a skills test to the troopers Camara filled out portions of each trooper s Road Test Application with false information including the make model and registration for an absent trailer as well as the Sponsor Information section in which Camara falsely claimed to be the sponsor for each of the troopers Camara also pleaded guilty to perjury for false statements made to a federal grand jury Testifying under oath before the grand jury Camara falsely claimed that he had neither filled out the motorcycle and sponsor information sections of three of the troopers CDL Road Test Applications nor signed the forms All CDL recipients identified as not qualified during the class of this review have been communicated to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles Related Articles Boston man convicted of giving bribes to Mass State Police sergeant sentenced to prison Mass State Police trooper seriously injured in hit-and-run crash urges drivers to move over Road rage on the Mass Pike Mass State Police respond to highway shooting Person stabbed at Boston Logan airport Mass State Police reports Massachusetts school instructor accused of human trafficking Test requirements for CDLs are established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration which is part of the U S Department of Transportation The CDL skills test is a demanding in-person test that consists of three segments Motorcycle Inspection in which an applicant is tested on their knowledge of the carriage Basic Control Skills in which an applicant is tested on their ability to perform certain maneuvers and the Road Test in which an applicant is tested on their ability to drive a commercial truck on an open roadway