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Sergeant Gary Cederquist, of Stoughton, and Trooper Joel Rogers, of Bridgwater, were the two active-duty troopers placed on unpaid leave. They are among six people charged on three counts of conspiracy to falsify records, three counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, three counts of extortion, six counts of honest services mail fraud, 31 counts of falsification of records, 27 counts of false statements, and one count of perjury, federal authorities said.
The others arrested include:
- Calvin Butner, 63, of Halifax
- Perry Mendes, 63, of Wareham
- Scott Camara, 42, of Rehoboth
- Eric Mathison, 47, of Boston
Butner and Mendess previously retired from the force.
Federal prosecutors said that between May 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist, Butner, Mendes, Rogers, and others gave preferential treatment to at least 17 CDL applicants by giving passing scores on their skills tests despite failing. They would use the code word "golden" for each applicant.
Texts were sent between Cederquist and Butner about some of the applicants, including:
- “Your buddy passed yesterday he owes you that’s an automatic Fail leaving the door open!!!”
- “This guys a mess. Lol. He owes u a prime rib 6inch. 4 compounds and no watch.”
- “Your buddy is a mess. He owes you big time. He will be fine though. Anything for you.”
- “Golden mess. 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣”
- “He’s a mess Class A truck 2psi loss with truck running truck cut our again while timing 🤣🤣🤣🤣”
- “Total mess this guy I think some time we should just do what we can but not golden.”
- Cederquist also allegedly falsely reported that four troopers had taken and passed a Class A skills test.
Mathison, who worked for a spring water company that employed drivers who needed CDLs, gave passing scores to applicants affiliated with the company in exchange for free products, authorities said.
Other bribes Cederquist accepted include a $750 granite post and mailbox, a new driveway worth $10,000, and a snow blower priced at $2,000, prosecutors said.
State police officials said they are cooperating with federal investigators and have implemented changes to how they test CDL applicants to prevent these alleged malfeasants from happening again.
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