A former Sergeant with the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) was found guilty on dozens of charges related to a Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) bribery scheme.

On May 2, Gary Cederquist, 59, was found guilty by a federal jury in Boston on the following charges:

• 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
• 17 counts of false statements

Cederquist was acquitted of one count of conspiracy to commit extortion, two counts of extortion, three counts of falsification of records and three counts of false statements. He is scheduled for sentencing in July 2025.

Cederquist was in charge of the MSP CDL Unit in charge of administering CDL skills tests when he participated in a years-long scheme to provide false passing scores to 40 applicants.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts described the scheme:

“Between in on or about February 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist arranged for him and his co-conspirators to give passing scores to at least three dozen applicants regardless of whether or not they had actually passed or, in some cases, had even taken the CDL skills test, including in some instances in exchange for bribes. Cederquist and his co-conspirators used the code word “golden handshake” or “golden” to identify applicants who received special treatment and were to be given passing scores on their skills tests regardless of performance. In text message conversations, Cederquist and his co-conspirators described a number of “golden” applicants as performing poorly on their skills tests. However, all of the applicants received passing scores.

Among the CDL applicants to whom Cederquist gave preferential treatment were six MSP Troopers who Cederquist falsely reported as having passed a Class A skills test. In reality, however, the Troopers did not take a real CDL skills test. For four of the Trooper applicants, Cederquist conspired with his friend Camara, who worked for a truck-driving school in Brockton, to accomplish this offense.

Cederquist also conspired with his friend Mathison, who worked for a water company that employed drivers who needed CDLs, to give passing scores to certain applicants affiliated with the water company. In exchange for the passing scores, Cederquist accepted bribes – for years – of free inventory from the water company, such as cases of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, cases of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, coffee and tea products and boxes of Twizzlers and Swedish Fish, all of which Mathison delivered to an office trailer at the CDL test site in Stoughton. Cederquist sent Mathison a text describing one of these applicants as “an idiot,” who had “no idea what he’s doing,” and “should have failed about 10 times already.” Cederquist then texted Mathison that Mathison’s boss “owes big time.”

In exchange for using his official position to give preferential treatment to certain CDL applicants, Cederquist accepted a variety of bribes including inventory from Mathison’s water company valued in the thousands of dollars; a $750 granite post and mailbox; a new driveway valued at over $10,000; and a snowblower valued at nearly $2,000. Cederquist described one such applicant as “horrible,” and “brain dead,” but gave him a passing score anyway in exchange for the snowblower.“

Officials say that all of the unqualified CDL applicants have been reported to the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles.  

Other co-defendants include:

• Former Trooper Calvin Butner, 64, of Halifax
• Former Trooper Perry Mendes, 64, of Wareham
• Former Trooper Joel Rogers, 56, of Bridgewater
• Scott Camara, 44, of Rehoboth
• Eric Mathison, 48, of Boston

Butner, Mendes, Camara and Mathison have pleaded guilty.

“It is never a good day when a member of law enforcement is convicted of a crime, especially when it is a crime that compromises public safety. Gary Cederquist chose bribery and extortion over his oath to protect the community which he was sworn to serve. His greed put the public at risk when he devised a scheme to issue commercial driver’s licenses to applicants who had never taken a real test to operate heavy commercial vehicles on the roads and highways of Massachusetts,” said United States Attorney Leah B. Foley. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office has the utmost respect for law enforcement, but we will not stand idly by if they violate the law.”

“Today’s verdict confirms that Gary Cederquist abused his authority as a Massachusetts State Trooper to recklessly bypass long-established testing and safety parameters for commercial driver’s license applicants. He did so only to enrich himself, while turning a blind eye to the potential public safety implications of ill-prepared and unqualified commercial truck drivers navigating our streets and our highways,” said Homeland Security Investigations New England Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol. “Public servants are held to a higher standard and Cederquist not only let the citizens of the Commonwealth down but also disgraced the thousands of state troopers who so proudly and honorably wear the Massachusetts State Police uniform.”

“Today’s verdict sends a strong message to those who may be motivated by greed to abuse their positions—that they will be met with the full force of the criminal justice system,” said Elise Chawaga, Principal Assistant Inspector General for Investigations, Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General. “DOT OIG remains committed to working with our Federal law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to uphold motor carrier rules and regulations, which are integral to maintaining safety on our Nation’s roadways.”