A California Department of Motor Vehicles clerk and a truck driving school owner have pleaded guilty Tuesday to their roles in a conspiracy to sell Class A commercial drivers licenses without the buyer having to take or pass the required tests, according to U.S. Attorney Benjamin Wagner in Sacramento. Two other California DMV workers, one in Sacramento and one from Salinas, along with tow trucking school operators from Central Valley have been arrested in the investigation.
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The two defendants who pleaded guilty Tuesday will be sentenced in November. From there, they say DMV employees falsified computer records to show truckers passed written or behind-the-wheel tests they failed or never took.
The DMV has revoked or canceled about 600 licenses of drivers who were linked in some way to the DMV employees or the truck-driving schools.
The DMV is still investigating, and it’s unknown if any of the people who bought fraudulent licenses will face serious penalties or charges. According to court papers filed by prosecutors, at various times in 2013 and 2014 Homeland Security investigators – at times using confidential informants or undercover agents – paid Gill to obtain commercial licenses.
“These investigations and the criminal charges they produced send a very clear and loud message that the Department of Motor Vehicles takes fraud and illegal activity very seriously, and it is absolutely not tolerated”, stated Frank Alvarez, Chief Investigator, California Department of Motor Vehicles. A person with a canceled license may go to the DMV and take the written and the driving tests.
Class A commercial drivers’ licenses like the ones involved in some of the alleged bribes are required to operate trucks, including 18-wheel cargo semitrailers.
The indictment accuses the trucking school owners, including Turlock’s Sodhi Singh, as acting like brokers to assist individuals in obtaining Class A, Class B, and Class C driver’s licenses by bribing Kimura and Klem to enter false information.
A Class “B” driver may operate a bus.
DMV examiners Andrew Kimura, 30, of Sacramento, and Robert Turchin, 65, of Salinas, were indicted last week on charges of conspiracy, bribery and fraud in connection with identification documents, along with trucking school owners Pavitar Dosangh Singh, 55, of Sacramento, and Mangal Gill, 55, of San Ramon.
Christopher Morales of San Francisco, attorney for Sodhi Singh, said his client is a good family man who recognizes that he erred when he “took shortcuts” to help members of the Indian community who had trouble passing the tests. None of these drivers was holding a license counted among the 100 mentioned by Wagner, he said.
Investigators say the scheme has been ongoing since 2011. Two of them purportedly involved Gill, who owns trucking schools in Fremont, Lathrop, Fresno and Salinas.
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Both Kulwinder Singh and Klem, following their guilty pleas, may face up to five years in prison. Messrs. Turchin and Gill are to be arraigned Friday.
