GARDEN CITY, NY — A former Garden City Department of Motor Vehicles Supervisor was sentenced on Wednesday to one year in jail for her role in an exam cheating scam, the Nassau County District Attorney's Office said.
According to the DA's office, Kanaisha Middleton, 34, processed commercial driver's license permit exams for no-show applicants with the help of her sister, who took exams for permit applicants.
Kanaisha Middleton pleaded guilty on May 4 before Judge Robert Schwartz to fourth-degree corrupting the government, impairing the integrity of a licensing examination, and official misconduct, prosecutors said.
She was sentenced on Oct. 28 to one year in jail, prosecutors said.
"Kanaisha Middleton used her government position to corrupt and exploit DMV systems and manipulate a process meant to ensure those permitted to drive commercial vehicles on New York State roadways have the knowledge and abilities to do so safely," NCDA Anne Donnelly said. "She enlisted the help of her sister and several other DMV employees in a masquerade of hairbrained disguises to conceal a half-baked scheme putting money in their pockets and untested drivers on the roads with permits they never earned. We expect public employees to uphold the law, not sell it out for cash and at the expense of New Yorkers' safety."
According to the DA's office, the first report of this was brought to the New York State Inspector General's Office by a supervisor in the Garden City DMV branch who accused employees of processing CDL permit applications for no-show applicants for the required tests.
In order to get a CDL permit, a person must provide proof of identification as a class 'D' license or other form of government-issued identification, as well as proof of legal status in the U.S., the DA's office said.
The person's identity then has to be verified to ensure it matches their provided license with the "internal, digitized DMV records," the DA's office said. After this step, if all is verified, the applicant then required to take the CDL permit exam on a computer terminal and is assigned a testing station in an exam room, the DA's office explained.
The applicant will then take the exam, with their score being automatically generated and stored on the terminal in that exame room, and the applicant may be able to obtain their permit that same day, the DA's office said. The person would have to see a representative with their completed MV44 form and proper identification, prosecutors said.
Sister of Kanaisha Middleton, Jamie Middleton, "dressed in various disguises and purported to be different permit applicants seeking to take the exams," nine times between March and September 2023, prosecutors said. She passed the test eight times for seven applicants and six of the applicants were not issued full CDL licenses, prosecutors said.
When Jamie gained access to the testing room, she approached DMV employees while dressed in "baggy clothing, facemasks, construction jackets and fake facial hair," prosecutors said.
Although Jamie's description did not match the identification and DMV records for applicants, she was still granted access to the testing room by various Motor Vehicle Representatives, the DA's office said.
On one occasion on May 23, 2023, Jamie took exams for two different applicants less than five minutes apart without changing her clothing, prosecutors said.
Jamie took an exam for a Town of Hempstead Sanitation employee on Aug. 14, 2023 in Garden City, and the man then received his interim permit on Aug. 16 at the Massapequa branch, the DA's office said. He was issued a full CDL license in September and upon an NCDA investigation, he used his "illegally obtained CDL license to drive recycling trucks for the Sanitation Department," the DA's office said.
Jamie pleaded guilty on May 4, 2026, before Judge Schwartz to fourth-degree corrupting the government and eight counts ofI impairing the integrity of a licensing examination, the DA's office said. She was sentenced on July 7 to five months incarceration and five years' probation, prosecutors said.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Investigative Counsel Kathleen Swenson and Assistant District Attorney Valerie Timmerman of the Public Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Jesse Aviram and Bureau Chief Kristen Fexas, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Nicholas Mauro, prosecutors said.
Jamie Middleton is represented by Jeffrey Groder , and Kanaisha Middleton is represented by Karen Johnston, Esq., prosecutors said.
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