Two California Men Sentenced to Prison for Fraudulent CDL Scheme
On August 1, 2019, in U.S. District Court, Sacramento, California, Donald Freeman and Juan Arturo Arroyo Gomez received prison sentences related to their participation a scheme to alter commercial driver’s license (CDL) test scores. Freeman was sentenced to 37 months; Arroyo Gomez was sentenced to 12 months. Each defendant also received 2 years of supervised release and were ordered to pay a $100 special assessment. In December 2017, the two men pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bribery, identity fraud, and unauthorized access to a computer.
The investigation revealed that Freeman was an employee at the California Department of Motor Vehicles’ (DMV) Tracy branch who processed CDL applications, among other things. In exchange for money from Arroyo, Freeman changed records in the DMV’s database to fraudulently show that CDL applicants had passed the required written tests when they had not; in some cases, they didn’t even taken the tests. Arroyo Gomez was a broker in the scheme; he told students at truck-driving schools that he would help them get CDLs in return for money. People with fraudulent CDLs can drive passenger buses, tractor-trailers, and trucks hauling hazardous materials on interstates all over the country—putting the public at risk.
DOT-OIG conducted this investigation with the FBI and California DMV.