43 year-old Benjamin James McGrigg, of Jackson, pled guilty to commercial driver’s license fraud.
On March 5th, 2018, McGrigg was charged in a five-count federal indictment charging conspiracy and making false and fraudulent material representations.
He previously worked for a company that provided training and certification to individuals seeking commercial driver’s licenses (“CDLs”). His employment only authorized certification to those that were students of the company. McGrigg provided paperwork to those whom wanted a CDL that were not students of his employer. McGrigg prepared the paperwork representing that the applicant had taken the road skills test, when in fact the applicant had not. This fraudulent paperwork would be given to an individual seeking to obtain a CDL in exchange for payment to McGrigg. Such fraudulent paperwork would be presented by these individuals to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety in order to secure a commercial driver’s license. A review of the commercial drivers’ paperwork in Mississippi showed that some of the applicants could not have achieved the results on the paperwork. Some Commercial Driver’s License holders were interviewed and said they had never taken the test and just paid McGrigg for the paperwork.
“This investigation demonstrates our commitment to protecting the efficacy of DOT’s commercial driver’s license regulations and advancing safety on the roads by ensuring that only qualified individuals obtain CDLs,” stated Marlies Gonzalez, Regional Special Agent-In-Charge at U.S. DOT-OIG. “Working with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, we will continue our vigorous efforts to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud schemes which endanger the traveling public.”
McGrigg is facing a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release.
