A Boston man pleaded guilty Friday after federal authorities said he worked with a now-former Massachusetts State Police sergeant to give false passing scores to some commercial driver’s license applicants who either failed the exam or only took part of the CDL skills tests, in exchange for bribes.
Eric Mathison, 48, pleaded guilty March 21 to one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a statement. He’ll be sentenced on June 13.
Mathison was charged in January 2024 in a 74-count indictment along with five other people in connection with the conspiracy and related schemes.
Mathison worked for a water company that hired drivers who needed commercial driver’s licenses to drive their vehicles, federal prosecutors said. He admitted to working with other people, including former Massachusetts State Police Sgt. Gary Cederquist, who was in charge of the department’s CDL Unit — to give fake passing scores to certain CDL applicants tied with the water company.
Cederquist gave passing scores to several applicants who actually failed the CDL skills test, and others who only took a partial test, federal prosecutors said. He did this in exchange for bribes of free inventory from the water company. The free items included bottled Fiji, bottled Arizona Iced Tea and coffee and tea products. Mathison delivered these items to an office trailer at the CDL test site in Stoughton.
“Mathison admitted to his alleged communications with Cederquist about particular CDL applicants, their performance on the skills test, and inventory from the water company that Cederquist allegedly requested and that Mathison delivered,” federal prosecutors said.
Federal prosecutors said in one case, Mathison admitted to getting texts from Cederquist that described one CDL applicant as an “an idiot,” who had “no idea what he’s doing,” and “should have failed about 10 times already.” Cederquist gave this applicant a passing score.
In a separate case, Mathison asked Cederquist, “Hows the trailer holding,” federal prosecutors said.
Cederquist responded, “In desperate need of restocking,” and requested several things, some of which included premium bottled water, tea, energy drinks and a “truckload of large water,” federal prosecutors said.
The charge of conspiracy to commit extortion provides for a sentence of up to 20 years in prison and three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000, according to federal prosecutors.
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Cederquist