Defendant involved in Massachusetts State Police Commercial Driver’s License bribery scheme
BOSTON – A Rehoboth man was sentenced in federal court in Boston for his role in a conspiracy to falsify records by giving passing scores to four Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) applicants who did not take the CDL skills test as required by federal law. The defendant was also sentenced for lying to a federal grand jury.
Scott Camara, 44, was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Indira Talwani to one month in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release. In April 2025, Camara pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to falsify records and one count of perjury. In January 2024, Camara was charged in a 74-count indictment along with five others in the conspiracy and related schemes.
According to court documents, members of the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) CDL Unit were responsible for administering CDL skills tests. Test requirements for CDLs are established by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation. The CDL skills test is a demanding, in-person test that consists of three segments: Vehicle Inspection, in which an applicant is tested on their knowledge of the vehicle; Basic Control Skills, in which an applicant is tested on their ability to perform certain maneuvers; and the Road Test, in which an applicant is tested on their ability to drive a commercial vehicle on an open roadway.
In October 2021, Camara conspired with then-MSP Sergeant Gary Cederquist to give passing scores to four MSP troopers who had applied for Class A CDLs, but who did not actually take the required CDL skills test.
The test takers were given preferential treatment by Cederquist, who falsely reported that each trooper took and passed a Class A skills test. In reality Camara drove around the testing site with each of the four troopers in a truck cab which did not qualify as a Class A vehicle because it did not have an attached trailer, and neither Cederquist nor any other member of the CDL Unit administered a skills test to the troopers. Camara filled out portions of each trooper’s Road Test Application with false information, including the make, model and registration for an absent trailer, as well as the “Sponsor Information” section, in which Camara falsely claimed to be the sponsor for each of the troopers.
Camara was also sentenced for making false statements to a federal grand jury in May 2023. Testifying under oath before the grand jury, Camara falsely claimed that he had neither filled out the vehicle and sponsor information sections of three of the troopers’ CDL Road Test Applications, nor signed the forms.
All CDL recipients identified as not qualified during this investigation have been reported to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Later in August 2025, former Trooper Calvin Butner, a co-defendant, was sentenced to three months in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release with the first three months in home confinement. Also in August 2025, co-defendant, Former Trooper Perry Mendes, was sentenced to one month in prison, to be followed by one year of supervised release with the first two months on home confinement. In September 2025, civilian co-defendant Eric Mathison was sentenced to one year and one day in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. In May 2025, Gary Cederquist was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, one count of extortion, six counts of honest services mail fraud, three counts of conspiracy to falsify records, 19 counts of falsification of records and 17 counts of false statements. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 29, 2025.
