MA RMV Workers Took Bribes For Driving Test Scores: US Attorney

BROCKTON, MA — Two people from MA have been charged with permit and driver's license test conspiracies after being accused of knowingly passing applicants who failed their exams, the U.S. Attorney's Office wrote in a news release Thursday.

Both of the accused agreed to plead guilty in connection with separate conspiracies at the Registry of Motor Vehicles in Brockton.

Mia Cox-Johnson, 43, of Brockton, was charged with two counts of extortion under color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion, according to the attorney's office. Estevao Semedo, 61, also of Brockton, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.

According to the charging documents, Cox-Johnson, a former manager of the RMV service center in Brockton, took money in exchange for giving passing scores on learner’s permit tests for both regular driver’s licenses and Commercial Driver’s Licenses between December 2018 and October 2019.

Cox-Johnson told customers to request a paper test instead of taking the test on the RMV computer and then scored them herself, according to the office In one instance in December 2018, Cox-Johnson is said to have accepted $1,000 in cash – delivered from a friend on behalf of another person – in exchange for giving a passing score to the person's relative who had failed the learner’s permit test six times when taking it in their native language.

Semedo, the owner of a driving school, is accused of conspiring to defraud the RMV into giving driver’s licenses to applicants who did not pass the road test by paying off a road test examiner, according to the office. Some of the applicants did not even show up to take the test.

The charges of extortion under color of official right and conspiracy to commit extortion each come with a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of $250,000, the office said. A conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud charge comes with a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine.

The charging document also seeks a $17,000 forfeiture money judgment against Semedo, according to the office.

Plea hearings have not yet been scheduled by the court.