Summary

On October 7, 2015, Inocente Gonzalez was sentenced in U.S. District Court, Brooklyn, New York. He was sentenced to 3 years probation and 100 hours of community service for his role in a widespread Commercial Driver's License (CDL) test-taking fraud scheme in New York State. In total, eleven individuals were indicted on charges related to this scheme in October 2013, including Gonzalez.

The investigation revealed that fraudulent CDL test-taking activities occurred at five known New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) test centers in the New York City area. Surveillance operations, including the use of remote observation posts and pole-cameras, identified the defendants participating in the fraud scheme. Defendants included  DMV security personnel, an external test-taker, facilitators, "runners", and lookouts. Conspiring CDL applicants paid facilitators between $1,800-$2,500 in return for CDL exam answers and escort assistance through DMV processes. Fraud schemes included the use of pencils containing miniaturized encoded test answers, the use of a Bluetooth headset as a communication device to relay CDL test answers, and the use of an external test-taker positioned nearby to take the exams. Gonzalez was employed as a security guard at NYS-DMV locations in Manhattan.

We are conducting this investigation with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security - Homeland Security Investigations, New York City Police Department, New York State (NYS) DMV Investigations, NYS - Attorney General's Office, and the NYS - Inspector General's Office.