Massachusetts man convicted in CDL bribery scam pcr

A former sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police is to be sentenced July 24 after he was found guilty in a scheme to accept bribes in exchange for providing CDL applicants passing test scores.

Gary Cederquist, 59, of Stoughton, Massachusetts, was convicted on Friday by a federal jury. He had accepted bribes ranging from a new $10,000 driveway to a granite post and mailbox to cases of bottled water, The Boston Herald reported.

Among the dozens of charges on which Cederquist was convicted were extortion, honest services mail fraud and conspiracy to commit extortion. He was acquitted of nine related charges.

Cederquist, two other troopers and two civilians were accused in connection with the scheme, which was conducted from mid-2019 to early 2023, according to The Associated Press. Four of the five have pleaded guilty.

The officers passed dozens of drivers who had failed CDL skills tests or hadn’t even taken the tests, letting them know they had passed through a text and the word “golden.”