Taunton Woman Also Pleads Guilty To Issuing Driver’s Licenses to Applicants Who Did Not Take Road Test
A Brockton driving school owner and a former manager at the Brockton Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) service center have both been sentenced to prison this month for their roles in various schemes to issue fraudulent Massachusetts driver’s licenses.
Both cases stemmed from an internal investigation by the RMV and MassDOT, which commenced after it was noticed that “suspicious activity surrounding some 2020 road tests’ were occurring at this location. As a result of that investigation, the RMV ultimately found that more than 2,100 drivers had been issued driver’s licenses at the Brockton Registry of Motor Vehicles without having actually taken a road test.
Brockton Driving School Owner Pleads Guilty To Commit Honest Services Mail Fraud
As a result of that initial investigation, Estevao Semedo, 61, the owner of a Brockton driving school, was sentenced in Federal Court to 6 months in prison and 1 year of supervised release, with the first 6 months in home confinement, for conspiring with an RMV road test examiner to issue licenses to driving school customers who had not passed their road tests. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, Mr. Semedo paid the examiner $17,000 in bribes over a period of time in exchange for passing road test scores for customers who had not taken or not passed the test, resulting in the fraudulent issuance of driver’s licenses by the RMV.
In some instances, customers who had received a valid license, had not even bothered to show up to take the exam. After pleading guilty to conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, Mr. Semedo was ordered to forfeit $17,000.
Former Manager of Brockton RMV Sentenced For Extortion
In a separate, but related case, Mia Cox-Johnson, 44, a former manager at the Brockton RMV, was sentenced to 4 months in prison and 1 year supervised release, with 6 months in home confinement, for taking bribes to falsely issue passing scores on learner’s permit tests. Ms. Cox-Johnson was originally charged by an Information on March 2, 2023. She was sentenced on July 20, 2023.
According to information provided by the DOJ’s office, between December 2018 and October 2019, Cox-Johnson conspired with others to accept money in exchange for passing scores on learner’s permit tests, even if the applicants failed the tests. Customers were told to take paper versions of the tests so Cox-Johnson could falsely grade them.
In one instance in December 2018, Cox-Johnson accepted $1,000 to pass an individual who had failed the learner’s permit test six times, agreeing to pass them regardless of actual performance. In another instance in October 2019, she accepted a $200 bribe to give passing scores to an applicant who had failed one of the learner’s permit tests required for a commercial driver’s license. This was after the customer had come to the Brockton RMV and took three multiple-choice tests in order to try and and pass the test to get a commercial learner’s permit – a prerequisite to taking the road test for a CDL. Cox-Johnson pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit extortion and two counts of extortion earlier this year.
Taunton Woman Charged For Attempt to Bribe A Brockton RMV Official
Following on the heels of the above cases, a Taunton woman pleaded guilty on August 21, 2023, to bribing a road test examiner at the Registry of Motor Vehicles (RMV) in Brockton to issue driver’s licenses to individuals who did not take road tests.
Neta Centio, 56, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Court Judge Leo T. Sorokin to one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud. Judge Sorokin scheduled sentencing for Nov. 20, 2023. Centio was charged on June 26, 2023.
Centio paid a road test examiner at the Brockton RMV service center to misrepresent to the RMV that certain driver’s license applicants had passed their road test when, in fact, they had not even showed up for the test. As a result of the fraud, the RMV mailed driver’s licenses to unqualified applicants. Centio used CashApp to pay the road examiner in exchange for fraudulent passing scores on road tests. After Centio’s fraud was discovered, she told the road test examiner, “Don’t say nothing about the CashApp. . . . Break the phone.”
Similar to the above cases, the charge of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud provides for 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 $20,215 forfeiture money judgment based on the amount of the bribes. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
