TRENTON
– Acting Attorney General Ricardo Solano
Jr. and Criminal Justice Director Deborah
L. Gramiccioni announced that a former testing
supervisor for the Motor Vehicle Commission
who worked in the Cardiff Motor Vehicle Agency
was sentenced today for taking bribes to falsify
test results to allow drivers to pass the
written driver’s test.
According
to Director Gramiccioni, Drake A. Williams,
48, of Egg Harbor Township, was sentenced
to three years in state prison by Superior
Court Judge Michael A. Donio in Atlantic County.
Williams pleaded guilty on Aug. 17 to a charge
of second-degree conspiracy. The charge was
contained in a March 10, 2009 state grand
jury indictment.
Williams
forfeited his state job and is permanently
barred from public employment in New Jersey.
Deputy
Attorney General Christine Hoffman, who is
chief of the Division of Criminal Justice
Corruption Bureau, represented the state at
the sentencing hearing.
An
investigation by the New Jersey State Police
and the Division of Criminal Justice Major
Crimes Bureau revealed that between Jan. 1,
2007 and May 1, 2008, Williams took cash payments
from customers in return for fraudulently
issuing passing grades to them on the MVC’s
written driver examination. He accepted payments
of $50 to $200 per customer. Brokers steered
customers to Williams, who administered the
test to them on paper, rather than by computer
as is standard. Williams falsified the results
for customers who could not speak English
adequately or could not pass the test for
other reasons. He was arrested on May 1, 2008.
The
investigation was conducted and coordinated
by Detective Michael LaRosa and Detective
Sgt. Mark Wilhelm of the New Jersey State
Police Auto Unit’s Document Fraud Squad,
Investigator Philip Foley of the New Jersey
Motor Vehicle Commission, and Deputy Attorneys
General Hoffman and James Ruberton of the
Division of Criminal Justice.
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