Crime roundup: Three sentenced in separate CDL testing schemes, moving company owner pleads guilty

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Updated Jan 6, 2016

stolen money theft fraudThe Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General recently announced court activity in four trucking-related crime investigations. Here’s a summary of what happened with each:

HHG moving company owner pleads guilty

Shedrick Giles, the owner of Fast Movers Delivery Service, pleaded guilty Dec. 3 to transportation of stolen property related to a household goods theft scheme involving multiple companies.

Following an investigation, Department of Transportation agents determined that Tasheen “Ty” R. Pickett owned and operated J&P Moving out of Sumter, S.C., a company that purportedly provided moving services for people looking to ship their household goods. According to the OIG, J&P never received authority from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to transport HHG.

After acquiring jobs, J&P and others dispatched trucks and movers to various locations, loaded the household goods into the trucks and then never returned the goods to the owners. When an owner would contact the movers for their goods, the companies would give excuses for the delivery failures or promise delivery at a later date, but the goods would never be delivered.

Giles’ company was identified as a co-conspirator with Pickett and used the same scheme to obtain money and HHG from victims.

Florida school employee sentenced for role in CDL testing scheme

Natalia Dontsova was sentenced to 10 months in prison and a year of supervised release for her role in a fraudulent CDL testing scheme in Florida. She pleaded guilty to conspiracy to unlawfully produce Florida driver licenses and CDLs in October.

In November, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles issued letters to more than 2,000 CDL drivers who were identified as using third party testers and medical examiners that weren’t tested properly. These drivers were given 60 days to retest or their CDLs would be revoked.

N.Y. man sentenced in widespread CDL testing scheme

Luc Desmangles was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in a widespread fraudulent CDL testing scheme in New York.

In October 2013, Desmangles and 10 others were charged with conspiracy to unlawfully produce identification documents in connection with the scheme. In July 2015, Desmangles and four others were found guilty of all charges, and the six others that were charged all pleaded guilty.

S.C. man sentenced in connection with third-party CDL testing

Thomas Lindsey was sentenced to two years’ probation for making false statements related to the unauthorized administering of CDL tests in South Carolina.

Lindsey was approved by the state of South Carolina as a third party tester, solely for the administration of CDL testing to employees of the North Spartanburg Fire Department.

According to DOT OIG, he also administered the tests to drivers who were not employed by the fire department and didn’t require all drivers to perform vehicle pre-trip inspections, basic controls or road tests, and utilized unapproved locations to conduct required testing.