Investigations

On February 2, 2012, in U.S. District Court, Columbia, South Carolina, Brenda Kay Poston, a former South Carolina Department of Motor Vehicles (SCDMV) Customer Service Representative, pled guilty to a five count indictment charging her with making false statements related to a scheme which resulted in the issuance of Commercial Driver Licenses (CDL) to unqualified applicants.  

This investigation was predicated as a result of a request for assistance from the SCDMV following their discovery that Ms. Poston aided several individuals in the creation of false CDL test scores, knowledge and road test scores, and operational enhancements, such as hazardous materials and passenger endorsements by entering false information into the SCDMV databases.   The OIG and SCDMV conducted a historical review of the Driver History Records System which identified 19 drivers with suspicious or unverifiable credentials dating back to 2004.  Ms. Poston confessed to her role in the issuance of 19 CDLs and 13 drivers admitted to obtaining their CDLs or endorsements fraudulently.   SCDMV officials instituted Administrative Revocations of those drivers' credentials and offered re-examinations of all drivers believed to be the recipient of fraudulent CDLs. 

Ms. Poston was terminated from her position and she later fled the jurisdiction of US District Court in South Carolina.  Several months later with the assistance of the US Marshals Service, Ms. Poston was returned to Columbia, SC, for arraignment.   

This investigation was conducted jointly with the South Carolina Department of Law Enforcement Division.