Man sentenced to prison for bribing Massachusetts troopers with iced tea and Swedish Fish in exchange for CDLs
This week, a Boston man was sentenced to prison for conspiring with former Massachusetts State Police (MSP) troopers to provide bribes in exchange for falsified passing scores on Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) tests for certain applicants.
On September 3, 2025, Eric Mathison, 48, was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
In March 2025, Mathison pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion.
In January 2024, Mathison was charged as part of a 74-count indictment, along with former MSP Sergeant Gary Cederquist, 59, and other former troopers who worked in MSP’s CDL Unit.
Mathison was accused of conspiring with Cederquist to obtain false passing scores for CDL applicants who had failed or had taken only partial CDL skills tests in exchange for bribes that included beverages and snack items.
From the U.S. Attorney’s Office:
“Mathison worked for a water company that employed drivers who needed CDLs to drive their delivery vehicles. Cederquist gave passing scores to multiple applicants from the water company who actually failed the CDL skills test, as well as others who took only a partial test, in exchange for bribes of free inventory from the water company, such as cases of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, cases of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, coffee and tea products, energy drinks, and Twizzlers and Swedish Fish candy, all of which Mathison delivered to an office trailer at the CDL test site in Stoughton, Mass. Mathison admitted to his communications with Cederquist about particular CDL applicants and their performance on the skills test as well as inventory from the water company that Cederquist requested and that Mathison delivered. For example, Mathison received texts from Cederquist describing one water company applicant as “an idiot,” who had “no idea what he’s doing,” and “should have failed about 10 times already.” Cederquist then gave this applicant a passing score. On another occasion, Mathison asked Cederquist, “Hows the trailer holding,” to which Cederquist responded, “In desperate need of restocking,” along with a specific request for, among other things, premium bottled water, tea, energy drinks and a “truckload of large water.”“
Cederquist gave false passing scores on CDL road skills tests to 40 applicants, authorities say.
In May 2025, Cederquist was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, one count of extortion, six counts of honest services mail fraud, three counts of conspiracy to falsify records, 19 counts of falsification of records and 17 counts of false statements. He faces sentencing in September 2025.