FBI Sting Unveils Commercial Driver’s License (CDLs) Scam

(October 30, 2017) — The Sacramento Bee is reporting that an under-cover sting operation has led to bribery charges against two additional California Department of Motor Vehicles employees. The six-year probe by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and other federal agencies has resulted in charges against eight individuals so far and the revocation of hundreds of commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) around the state.

The latest employees to be charged were named in documents unsealed this month in federal court in Sacramento. The government is alleging they took bribes from Southern California truck driving school owners to alter DMV records to show applicants passed written and driving tests, allowing them to obtain CDLs. The defendants were identified as Lisa Terraciano, 51, who is employed at a DMV office in Winnetka, and Kari Scattaglia, 38, a manager who worked in offices in Granada Hills and Arleta.

The Sacramento Bee said online records indicate Scattaglia is the daughter of Vito F. Scattaglia, a deputy chief of investigations and enforcement at DMV in Southern California. DMV spokesman Armando Botello told the Bee that Vito Scattaglia was not involved in the licenses-for-sale investigation, and that his agency is fully cooperating with law enforcement.

The newspaper added that the ongoing probe has resulted in guilty pleas by some former DMV employees and at least one truck driving school owner. Evidence includes video of undercover agents driving into DMV parking lots and exchanging envelopes with employees standing outside waiting for them. The investigation has grown to include DMV offices the length of California and dates back to 2011. It involves multiple payoffs of thousands of dollars to DMV workers to alter computer records, court records say.

The Bee’s coverage adds that the FBI first started an investigation “involving individuals in the Sacramento area being offered the opportunity to obtain commercial CDLs without having to take the written or behind-the-wheel driving examinations in exchange for the payment money.” The investigation produced evidence that, for payments
 of $2000 to $5000, participants in the scam could obtain CDLs without taking the required tests. In 2012, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began a separate probe of similar allegations in the Stockton area, and eventually used informants and undercover agents to make payoffs and obtain licenses.