Latest news with #HomelandSecurityInvestigationsNewEngland
Boston Globe
02-05-2025
- Boston Globe
Retired Massachusetts State Police sergeant guilty of extortion, rigging license tests
US District Judge Indira Talwani scheduled sentencing for July 24. Advertisement 'It is never a good day when a member of law enforcement is convicted of a crime, especially a crime that compromises public safety,' US Attorney Leah B. Foley said in a statement after the verdict. Cederquist 'chose bribery and extortion over his oath to protect the community which he was sworn to serve,' Foley said. Three other former troopers who were indicted along with Cederquist resolved their cases prior to trial. Two of them, Calvin Butner and Perry Mendes, pleaded guilty as part of plea agreements and are awaiting sentencing. The third former trooper, Joel Rogers, was given a deferred prosecution agreement, which means charges will be dismissed if he abides by certain conditions. Two other men, Scott Camara, who worked at a commercial driving school in Brockton, and Eric Mathison, who worked at a water company, were charged in the scheme and also pleaded guilty prior to trial and are awaiting sentencing. Advertisement 'It was a fair trial,' Cederquist's attorney, Kevin Reddington, said after the verdict. 'He appreciates the work the jury put into the case.' He added that Cederquist 'is contemplating' an appeal, but will decide after he is sentenced. Until his indicment in January 2024, Cederquist had been in charge of the State Police commercial driving license unit, which administers skills tests for applicants seeking CDLs. The licenses are required to drive heavy vehicles, including tractor-trailers, box trucks, oil tankers and school buses. The verdict confirms that Cederquist abused his authority 'to recklessly bypass long-established testing and safety parameters for commercial driver's license applicants,' said Michael J. Krol, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England. '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.' Prosecutors allege the scheme resulted in more than three dozen people getting commercial driver's licenses between about February 2019 and January 2023 without passing the required tests. Prosecutors presented text messages to jurors that were exchanged between the troopers about giving a 'golden handshake' or 'golden,' meaning a passing score, regardless of how an applicant performed on the driver's test. In some cases, prosecutors allege, troopers exchanged text messages describing some of the drivers they passed as 'an idiot,' 'a mess,' or 'brain dead.' Applicants given preferential treatment on driver's tests included fellow troopers, relatives of active and retired police officers, a Seekonk firefighter, and a driver with connections to a tow company in Canton, according to the indictment. Advertisement Prosecutors alleged that Cederqist extorted a stream of benefits from difference businesses in exchange for giving passing grades on skills tests administered by the State Police unit in Stoughton. Prosecutors alleged that an asphalt company co-owner provided asphalt for Cederquist's driveway, valued at more than $10,000, and was later told that his son's application for a commercial driver's license was 'all set' and 'in the mail,' even though he never took the test. Prosecutors also presented evidence that Cederquist conspired with Mathison, his friend who worked for a water company, to give passing scores to CDL applicants affiliated with the company. In exchange, prosecutors alleged, Cederquist accepted bribes of free inventory from the water company, including cases of expensive bottled water, coffee and tea, as well as boxes of Twizzlers and Swedish Fish. The products were delivered to an office trailer at the CDL test site in Stoughton. Cederquist sent his friend a text describing one of the CDL applicants as 'an idiot,' who had 'no idea what he's doing,' and 'should have failed about 10 times already,' according to prosecutors. Shelley Murphy can be reached at
Epoch Times
23-04-2025
- Epoch Times
3 Chinese Nationals Sentenced Over Gift Card Fraud Scheme
Three Chinese nationals who were part of a Chinese transnational criminal organization have been sentenced for their involvement in a gift card fraud scheme, with the illicit money being used to buy expensive electronic products, which were then shipped to China. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Hampshire The three individuals, who have also been sentenced to one year of supervised release, face deportation upon completing their prison sentences. 'These individuals were part of a Chinese transnational criminal organization that used a complex scheme to steal and launder millions of dollars through gift card theft,' Michael J. Krol, special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations New England, said in a statement. Prosecutors said the trio's crimes were part of a bigger problem. Organized crime groups in China had acquired more than $100 million in gift cards through fraudulent means, prosecutors said. These illicit means included stealing gift card data 'by hacking U.S. companies, tampering with physical gift cards, and targeting U.S. citizens through romance and elder fraud schemes,' according to the press release. The China-based criminal groups then sent the data from the gift cards to Chinese nationals operating cells in the United States via a China-based messaging platform in exchange for cryptocurrency, prosecutors said. Related Stories 1/30/2025 4/9/2025 These cells would then use the gift card data to buy high-value electronics, particularly Apple products, prosecutors said, and ship them to China, Hong Kong, or Southeast Asian countries. Prosecutors noted that cell members typically run their operations in states with no sales tax, such as New Hampshire, to maximize their profits. Wu, Jiang, and Chen were members of a cell in New Hampshire, where Wu and Jiang were responsible for buying fraudulent gift cards at a discount rate. Together, they either used the cards or gave them to others in the scheme, with Wu responsible for $1.4 million in fraud, Jiang for $3 million, and Chen for $400,000. The three had 'The defendants played a critical role in laundering proceeds of romance and other online scams by purchasing the stolen gift cards and using them to purchase Apple products,' acting U.S. Attorney Jay McCormack said in a statement, according to the April 22 press release. 'While they may not have committed the initial fraud, the defendants' actions helped convert stolen funds into tangible goods, enabling a large-scale financial crimes conspiracy.' On Oct. 19, 2023, Jiang, Chen, and two other Asian males used gift card data on their cellphones to buy Apple, Bose, and Powerbeats products at a Target store in Salem, New Hampshire, totaling more than $12,356, according to a court document submitted in late March. In January last year, law enforcement officials executed a search warrant at a warehouse used by the trio in Salem and found more than 7,000 Apple products, worth about $8 million, according to the court document. Following the searches, law enforcement officials arrested Wu and Jiang before they could board a flight to Shanghai at the John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, the court document states. Chen was identified as one of the 'runners,' who were considered 'lower-level' participants in the scheme, receiving commissions for purchasing electronic products from stores, according to the court document. The Epoch Times contacted the lawyers of Wu, Jiang, and Chen for comment, and did not receive a response by publication time. U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) currently has an initiative called HSI states on its Criminals are known to target gift cards at stores by stealing information on them before putting them back on store shelves, according to HSI. When a consumer buys a tampered gift card and loads money onto it, the criminal could immediately drain the funds. HSI's Cornerstone, a monthly newsletter, In March, a Chinese national named Liao Donghui, 32, was sentenced to 33 months in prison in Florida, after
