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OIG: 400 CDL Applicants Used Same Florida Address

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The Department of Transportation’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) last week announced the indictment of 4 individuals the agency believes were involved in a CDL testing scheme.

The OIG states, Ellariy Medvednik, Natalia Dontsova, Adrian Salari, and Clarence Davis were indicted on July 2, 2015 on charges related to “the unlawful production of Florida driver licenses and commercial drivers’ licenses (CDLs).”

The investigation began after the Florida Highway Patrol and the Orange County Florida Tax Collector’s Office noticed that nearly 400 people used the same address when applying for their CDLs.

Upon investigation, it was discovered the address is registered as the place of business for Larex Incorporated, a trucking school owned by Ellariy Medvednik.

“The indictment alleges that Larex marketed itself towards speakers of the Russian language and charged students approximately $1,800 to $5,000 for services in obtaining a Florida CDL. Medvednik, Dontsova, and Salari helped students cheat on the CDL written exam by utilizing covert communications to supply answers to the students while they were taking the tests,” OIG states.

In addition, the indictment states that the students were provided with false certification and documents to help them falsely meet Florida CDL residency requirements.

The same CDL tester, Clarence Davis, was used for the road skills test. The OIG states that Davis allegedly passed many students “even if they committed errors that should have resulted in automatic failures.”

Lastly, the indictment alleges that many of the students did not understand English– a requirement to pass the test.

Davis was allegedly compensated an additional $75 for each student that was passed.

The OIG is conducting the investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security Investigations.

 

 

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