6 Arrested, Including MA Police Officers, In Bribery Conspiracy

MASSACHUSETTS — Six people have been arrested, including current and former Massachusetts State Police troopers, in connection with a bribery conspiracy involving commercial driver's licenses, officials announced Tuesday.

The six accused have been charged in a 74-count indictment with conspiracy to give guaranteed passing scores to certain commercial driver's license applicants, according to the U.S. Attorney of Massachusetts.

Members of Massachusetts State Police's Commercial Driver's License Unit are responsible for administering commercial driver's license skills tests. In their scheme, the officers are accused of giving commercial licenses to those who had failed or did not take the skills test, in exchange for bribes, officials said.

Sergeant Gary Cederquist, 58, of Stoughton, Trooper Joel Rogers, 54, of Bridgewater, and civilians Scott Camara, 42, of Rehoboth, and Eric Mathison, 47, of Boston, were arrested Tuesday, Acting U.S. Attorney Joshua Levy said Tuesday. Retired State Troopers Calvin Butner, 63, of Halifax, and Perry Mendes, 63, of Wareham were arrested Monday in Florida.

Two department members who were charged in federal court Tuesday were suspended without pay Wednesday, Massachusetts State Police said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

"The [commercial driver's license] skills test is a demanding, in-person test that consists of three segments: Vehicle Inspection, in which an applicant is tested on their knowledge of the vehicle; 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 vehicle on an open roadway," officials said.

According to the charging document, between around May 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist, Butner, Mendes, Rogers, and others conspired to give preferential treatment to at least 17 commercial driver's license applicants by agreeing to give passing scores on their skills tests whether or not they actually passed — using the code word "golden" to identify these applicants who received special treatment.

The indictment alleges that the following texts, some by Cederquist and others by Butner, were sent about some of these applicants, all of whom were given passing scores:

• "Your buddy passed yesterday he owes you that’s an automatic Fail leaving the door open!!!;"
• "This guys a mess. Lol. He owes u a prime rib 6inch. 4 compounds and no watch;"
• "Your buddy is a mess. He owes you big time. He will be fine though. Anything for you;"
• "Golden mess. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣;"
• "He’s a mess Class A truck 2psi loss with truck running truck cut our again while timing 🤣🤣🤣🤣;" and
• "Total mess this guy I think some time we should just do what we can but not golden."

Test scores reported by members of Massachusetts State Police's Commercial Driver's License Unit are material to whether applicants meet federal requirements for — and therefore whether the Registry of Motor Vehicles is permitted to issue said applicants — commercial driver's licenses, officials noted.

Class A commercial driver's licenses are required to drive combination vehicles (e.g., tractor-trailers,) while Class B commercial driver's licenses are required to drive heavy single vehicles (e.g., box trucks, school buses).

Cederquist is also accused of giving preferential treatment to four Class A commercial driver's license applicants who were Massachusetts State Police troopers by falsely reporting that each trooper took and passed a Class A skills test, though the troopers did not pass the test and drove vehicles that did not qualify as Class A, officials said.

It is further alleged that Cederquist conspired with his friend Mathison, who worked for a spring water company that employed drivers who needed commercial driver's licenses, to give passing scores to certain applicants affiliated with the water company, according to officials.

The indictment alleges that Cederquist gave passing scores to three such applicants who actually failed, in exchange for bribes of free inventory from the water company, such as cases of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, cases of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, and coffee and tea products, all of which Mathison delivered to an office trailer at the CDL test site in Stoughton, officials said.

The indictment alleges that Cederquist sent Mathison a text describing one of these applicants as "an idiot," who had "no idea what he’s doing," and "should have failed about 10 times already." Cederquist then texted Mathison that Mathison’s boss "owes big time," according to officials.

Butner is accused of assisting with this conspiracy, including by giving Mathison a key to the Stoughton yard so that Mathison could drop off water company inventory even when the test site was closed, officials said.

The indictment alleges that Mendes also took part in the conspiracy, including by accepting cases of Fiji and VOSS water from Mathison immediately after administering an incomplete skills test to a new driver for the water company, with Mathison helping to put the cases in Mendes’s cruiser, according to officials.

According to the charging document, Cederquist also accepted bribes in exchange for using his official position as the Sergeant in charge of Massachusetts State Police's Commercial Driver's License Unit to give preferential treatment to certain applicants, including a $750 granite post and mailbox; a new driveway valued at over $10,000; and a snow blower valued at nearly $2,000, officials said.

The indictment alleges that Cederquist described one such applicant as "horrible," and "brain dead," but gave him a passing score anyway in exchange for the snow blower, according to officials.

All commercial driver's license recipients identified as not qualified in the course of this investigation have been reported to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, officials said.