Truck Driving School Owner Convicted of Bribery and Fraud Charges

Cape Girardeau, Missouri: Mustafa Redzic, owner of Bonsa Truck Driving School in St. Louis, was convicted late Wednesday of multiple charges involving a bribery/fraud scheme to provide easy tests to hundreds of students applying for commercial drivers licenses, United States Attorney Catherine L. Hanaway announced today.

"Testimony at trial described a troubling pattern of corruption and deception that allowed hundreds of unqualified drivers to obtain commercial drivers licenses in use across the country," said Hanaway, who along with Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus, prosecuted the case.

Co-defendant Troy Parr is a driver's license examiner employed at a testing facility at 315 Lynual, Sikeston, Missouri, which conducted examinations for people seeking Commercial Drivers' Licenses ("CDLs") required for driving large trucks. Redzic runs Bonsa Truck Driving School, a driver education business which, until recently, operated at 7719 Hall Street in north St. Louis.

Parr and Redzic formed a plan for Redzic to send his customers to Parr's testing facility in Sikeston to receive "short tests" for their commercial drivers licenses. Redzic wanted his customers to receive a much less rigorous test than is proper under Missouri standards. For example, Parr's test of Redzic's customers would take approximately one half hour when a proper examination should take approximately two hours. Also, multiple students often took the same "short test" at once. In exchange, Redzic agreed to pay Parr's facility the maximum fee authorized. Redzic was also willing to send his students on a two-hour one-way trip, past numerous other accredited testers, to receive these short tests. Parr benefited by the steady stream of business and Redzic benefited from the nearly 100% success rate his students enjoyed testing at Parr's facility. After they had passed their examinations at Parr's facility, Redzic's clients could obtain more lucrative employment open to commercial drivers.

Additionally, Redzic also invited Parr to St. Louis on numerous occasions where Parr would "consult" with Redzic on his drivers' education operation in St. Louis. Redzic would cover Parr's expenses on these trips, as well as provide Parr with a cash payment. These cash payments ranged from a few hundred dollars to several hundred dollars, and on one occasion Redzic paid Parr $2,500. In addition to cash payments, Redzic promised to eventually hire Parr as the director of his drivers' education facility in St. Louis and promised Parr he would share in its considerable profits.

Between January 2004 and April 2005, Redzic obtained approximately six hundred licenses for his clients through Parr. Redzic earned approximately $1,800,000 in tuition from those six hundred clients.

MUSTAFA REDZIC, of south St. Louis County, was convicted of one felony count of bribery, one felony count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one felony count each of wire and mail fraud. The government will seek the forfeiture of more than one million dollars in illegal proceeds from these crimes. That claim is currently under submission and will be decided by the trial judge.

The three-day trial was held in Cape Girardeau before United States District Judge E. Richard Webber.

Redzic now faces the following penalties:

The bribery charge carries a maximum penalty of 10 years and/or fines up to $250,000; the conspiracy charge carries a maximum of 5 years and/or $250,000; each mail and wire fraud count carries a maximum of twenty years and/or $250,000.

Parr, of Dexter, Missouri, pled guilty last December and awaits sentencing later this month.

Hanaway commended the work performed on the case by the task force that included the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Department of Transportation - Office of the Inspector General and the State of Missouri Department of Revenue and Highway Patrol and Assistant United States Attorney Tom Albus.

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