Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Jackson Man Pleads Guilty to CDL Fraud

The Justice Department issued this statement.


–Benjamin James McGrigg, 43, of Jackson, pled guilty today before Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan III to commercial driver’s license fraud, announced U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst and Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General Regional Special Agent in Charge Marlies Gonzalez.

On March 5, 2018, McGrigg was charged in a five-count federal indictment charging conspiracy and making false and fraudulent material representations.

McGrigg previously worked for a company that provided training and certification to individuals seeking commercial driver’s licenses (“CDLs”). His employment only authorized certification to those that were students of the company. McGrigg provided paperwork to those whom wanted a CDL that were not students of his employer. McGrigg prepared the paperwork representing that the applicant had taken the road skills test, when in fact the applicant had not. This fraudulent paperwork would be given to an individual seeking to obtain a CDL in exchange for payment to McGrigg. Such fraudulent paperwork would be presented by these individuals to the Mississippi Department of Public Safety in order to secure a commercial driver’s license. A review of the commercial drivers’
paperwork in Mississippi showed that some of the applicants could not have achieved the results on the paperwork. Some Commercial Driver’s License holders were interviewed and said they had never taken the test and just paid McGrigg for the paperwork.

“This investigation demonstrates our commitment to protecting the efficacy of DOT’s commercial driver’s license regulations and advancing safety on the roads by ensuring that only qualified individuals obtain CDLs,” stated Marlies Gonzalez, Regional Special Agent-In-Charge at U.S. DOT-OIG. “Working with our law enforcement and prosecutorial partners, we will continue our vigorous efforts to prevent, detect and prosecute fraud schemes which endanger the traveling public.”

McGrigg will be sentenced by Judge Jordan on November 16, 2018 at 9:15 a.m. He is facing a maximum penalty of three years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and 3 years of supervised release.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation-Office of Inspector General, the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, the Mississippi Bureau of Investigation and the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. It is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Erin Chalk.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...


It never ends.

Why can't people just do things the right way?

Anonymous said...

Explains why so many crazy truckers are out there.

Anonymous said...

It was about 10 years ago or so they busted a MHP colonel selling the license for $1,000.00 each. He was forced to retire nothing else happened as usual a MHP where corruption is a family tradition.

Anonymous said...

There is a bigger fraud in the White House.

Anonymous said...

@ 4:47

You must be watching MSNBC reruns.

Hillary lost. Trump won.

The fraud is wearing her latest fashion rug in New York.

Anonymous said...

If you can't pass a CDL test today, with all the practice tests, guides, aids available, and you have to buy a CDL, I'm not sure what other job you could perform...maybe City Council???

Micah Gober said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Anonymous said...

Micah Gober said...
Have some of you driven an 18 Wheeler? I'm guessing NO!!! I bet the majority of you think truckers are a bunch of trashy people. While you sit behind your computer in your nice office making snide comments about them think about this. A trucker driver sacrifices their lives, their time, and their livelihoods just to get that food to the store. That milk you're buying off of your grocery stores shelf has gone through an extensive journey and is now available to you. It not just food it is everything that has been brought to you by truck. The trucker works in all types of weather. They have to deal with 4 wheeler (cars) who cut them off. Some of you think we are stupid and can't do anything else.

Anonymous said...

Trump will pardon Manfort it's just a matter of who is going to resign once he does.

Anonymous said...

As a physician who did commercial drivers license exams for 10 years, I would say that the fraud rate amongst truckers coming in to get the licenses was at least 50%. I frequently found diabetics on insulin that lied about their diagnosis which excludes them from their CDL, and patients who had had a heart attacks stents, strokes, seizure disorders, and other non-drivable conditions masquerading as normal. Often when these problems became elucidated and the fact that the CDL was not going to be given, I had my life threatened on more than one occasion by these nice people that get our vegetables to us so we can sit behind our computers and eat cheetos. I couldn’t be happier to be out of the commercial drivers license racket. And I’m also so glad that now in order to give a CDL exam, you have to have a special license and the guidelines to become much more stringent. The class of people that drive 18 wheelers are not uniformly awful, but after practicing for the last 25 years I can legitimately say as a group of people, truck drivers really are not the nicest folks I’ve ever met and I have had to have more than one forcibly removed from my office with the police.

Anonymous said...

4:47 Obama is no longer in the White House

Anonymous said...

7:15 Yeah. Guess you caught the "physician" who had a melt-down in the Orlando airport last week and had to be taken down by cops? Everybody's human.

Anonymous said...

Having worked previously in the trucking industry, what I always found surprising, if not amazing, was the number of drivers who failed mandatory, random drug screens. They would be notified while on the road many states away to report asap to a designated clinic for a random. Alarming the number who failed typically due to alcohol, marijuana or legal meds not prescribed to them.

The request 'can I just go later' was always a red flag. No, you can not. You must report with this time window or we will seize the truck.

And these were all hauling vegetables, cigarettes, candy, frozen foods.....things that had to be refrigerated. Some had college degrees and had decided to 'see the country' as a team. Some had been driving for years. Some probably wore a tie to church for all we knew. And some (like Micah) had been cut off in traffic by a four-wheeler and other such bullshit.



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