The FBI reportedly is investigating a commercial trucking school in Missouri whose director called authorities because a large number of people taking license tests had names that appeared to be Middle Eastern in origin.
According to the Associated Press, the superintendent of the West Plains public school district, which runs the South Central Career Center Truck Training Program as part of vocational training, said the FBI had told district officials the investigation was focused on people who took the tests for a commercial driver’s license.
School district superintendent Karla Eslinger told the AP that FBI agents exercised a search warrant at the school two weeks ago and took hard drives and records of people who took CDL tests. She said these are people who walk in to take the test with records showing they completed training elsewhere, not students who trained at the school.
The FBI declined to comment except to acknowledge that there was an investigation. “It’s an ongoing investigation, and I can’t comment,” Jeff Lanza, spokesman for the FBI office in Kansas City, told the AP. “I can’t say what we’re looking at.”
The U.S. attorney’s office for western Missouri told the AP that no charges have been filed but would not comment further.
