January 8, 2010
Office of The Attorney General
– Anne Milgram, Attorney General
Division of Criminal Justice
– Deborah L. Gramiccioni, Director
Peter Aseltine
609-292-4791
Former Driver Testing Supervisor at Cardiff Motor Vehicle Agency Sentenced for Taking Bribes to Let Drivers Pass Test
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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