Man out on bail after scamming prospective truck drivers out of thousands with fraudulent trucking school

A man is out on bail after being accused of running a fraudulent trucking school and scamming prospective truck drivers out of thousands of dollars. 

Paul Rumery was arrested in York County, Maine this week after being accused of running the fraudulent trucking school. He is currently out on bail and awaiting a court appearance scheduled for April 30th. 

According to WGME13, Rumery claimed to work for a legitimate company training commercial drivers, but was instead charging prospective truck drivers thousands to complete a trucking school that was not approved by the state. Rumery would charge thousands less for the classes than legitimate trucking schools, making it seem like a bargain for trucking students, but the students would never receive their commercial drivers licenses. 

“I was trying for two years to get a CDL from him, roughly two years,” Leon Jackson, who took multiple classes with Rumery, said. Jackson says he paid Rumery $10,000 for CDL classes for himself, his son, and two friends to earn their CDLs through Rumery’s fake classes. None of them ever obtained their CDLs. 

“I had my permit, and I’m like, ‘Well, I got my permit, now I’m not going to sit here and wait a year and lose it,’” Jackson said.

Rumery was only reported to the state when Ronald Vance, the owner of a local legitimate trucking school called GoDrivingSchool, realized he was likely losing business to the scammer. 

“I had to compete with a non-competitive licensed school,” Vance said. “It is very depressing, very frustrating and makes you maybe not want to run your business anymore.”