Three New York State Department of Motor Vehicles workers were recently charged in 51-count indictment for allegedly processing commercial driver’s license permit exams for no-show applicants.
Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced the indictment against three New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Motor Vehicle Representatives, the sister of one of the employees, and three applicants, including two Town of Hempstead employees, for engaging in a scheme to cheat on commercial driver’s license exams and process permits.
Officials say the CDL scheme included the sister of a DMV supervisor, sometimes wearing disguises and impersonating applicants, to take computerized CDL exams for others.
Former DMV Supervisor Kanaisha Middleton, 33; Motor Vehicle Representative Tawanna Whitfield, 36; Motor Vehicle Representative Satoya Mitchell, 35; and Middleton’s sister, Jamie Middleton, 35, were arraigned on indictment charges of:
- Impairing the Integrity of a Government Licensing Examination (a D felony)
- Corrupting the Government in the Fourth Degree (an E felony)
- Tampering with Public Records in the First Degree (a D felony)
- Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree (an E felony)
- Falsifying Business Records in the Second Degree (an A misdemeanor)
CDL permit applicants James Nurse, 42; Omesh Mohan, 42; and Rene Sarduy, 44, were also charged in the indictment with Tampering with Public Records in the First Degree and Falsifying Business Records in the First Degree.
Mitchell, Whitfield, Nurse, and Jamie Middleton surrendered to NCDA Detective Investigators and were arraigned on Oct. 1. They were released on their own recognizance and are each due back in court on Nov. 6.
Sarduy and Mohan surrendered and were arraigned on Oct. 3 They are both due back in court on Nov. 12.
Kanaisha Middleton surrendered and was arraigned on Oct. 8. She is due back in court on Nov/ 12
If convicted, all the defendants face a maximum sentence of 2-1/3 to 7 years in prison.
According to the indictment and investigation, the allegations were first reported to the New York State Inspector General’s Office from a supervisor in the Garden City branch of the DMV who alleged that employees were processing CDL permit applications without applicants sitting for the required tests at the DMV location.
Motor Vehicle representatives then verify an applicant’s identity, matching their provided license with internal, digitized DMV records.
Once an applicant’s identity is verified, they are assigned to a testing station in an exam room to take a CDL permit exam on a computer terminal. Scores are automatically generated and stored on terminals in the exam room. If an applicant passes the exam, they can obtain their permit on the same day by seeing an MVR with their identification and a completed MV44 form.
According to the investigation and surveillance video obtained from DMV, on six separate dates between March 2023 and September 2023, Jamie Middleton, allegedly approached DMV employees dressed in various disguises and purported to be different CDL and class “D” permit applicants seeking to take the exams.
The DA’s office said she was allegedly dressed in baggy clothing, face masks, construction jackets and fake facial hair when she approached DMV employees to gain access to the testing room.
On each of the dates, Jamie Middleton was allegedly given access to the testing room by MVRs Tawanna Whitfield and Satoya Mitchell, participants in the scheme, despite Middleton’s appearance not matching the identification and DMV records for the applicants for whom she was posing.
On May 23,, Jamie Middleton allegedly took exams for two applicants, defendants Rene Sarduy, a Town of Hempstead Department of Highway employee, and Omesh Mohan, less than five minutes apart and wearing the exact same clothing.
Mohan and Sarduy allegedly both went to different DMV locations in Springfield Gardens and Bethpage in the following days to provide their paperwork and obtain their interim permits.
The DMV requires that each CDL interim permit holder also pass a specified CDL road test in order to obtain their CDL license. Both Mohan and Sarduy were never issued full licenses and the investigation determined that Mohan in fact failed the CDL road test.
Jamie Middleton allegedly took nine CDL exams in this period and passed the test eight times for seven applicants. Six of those applicants were never issued full CDL licenses.
Defendant James Nurse, a Town of Hempstead Sanitation employee, received an interim permit on Aug. 16, 2023, at the Massapequa branch of the DMV after Jamie Middleton allegedly took his exam two days before in Garden City.
Nurse was issued a full CDL license on Sept. 28, 2023, and NCDA’s investigation revealed that the defendant later used his illegally obtained CDL license to drive recycling trucks for the Sanitation Department.
“This scheme was an unbelievable organized breach of public trust and the trust of millions of drivers using Long Island’s roads. A ring of DMV employees who, working together, allegedly manipulated the commercial driver’s license exam process, allowing no-show applicants to cheat the system and skip their tests – giving them CDL permits that they did not earn and were not qualified to hold,” said DA Donnelly.”These defendants demonstrated for the right price they would sell out their integrity and the safety of others. That breakdown posed a risk to us all, and with the assistance of our partners at the New York State Inspector General’s Office, we uncovered this scheme and put an end to it.”
Inspector General Lucy Lang said, “This is now the second corruption scheme my office uncovered this year involving DMV employees who saw public service not as the privilege that it is, but as a permission slip for corruption.”
The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until and unless found guilty, according to a statement from the DA’s office.
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