The former Mass State Police sergeant who was federally convicted within the Industrial Driver’s License bribery scheme takes residence greater than $100,000 a yr from his pension, in accordance with state data.
So will 59-year-old Stoughton man Gary Cederquist lose his state pension now that he has been discovered responsible by a federal jury? The ex-statie needs to be sentenced by the federal choose earlier than the Massachusetts State Retirement Board considers stripping him of his pension.
Cederquist final week was convicted in reference to a conspiracy to falsify data and provides passing scores to sure Industrial Driver’s License candidates, together with individuals who failed or didn’t take the CDL abilities check, in alternate for bribes.
A jury discovered him responsible of 48 counts, whereas the jury discovered him not responsible on 9 counts.
He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, one rely of extortion, six counts of sincere companies mail fraud, three counts of conspiracy to falsify data, 19 counts of falsification of data, and 17 counts of false statements.
Following Cederquist’s conviction, the Herald reached out to the Massachusetts State Retirement Board to study his pension, and what is going to occur to it.
Cederquist — whose high base pay as a sergeant was near $150,000 — at the moment has an annual pension of $106,199. His gross pay monthly is $8,849.92.
Whereas his high base pay was $149,314 in 2022, he took residence greater than $330,000 that yr. He made greater than double his base pay on account of $79,904 in extra time pay and $102,400 in different pay.
So now what occurs to his annual pension of $106,199?
“The person has to be sentenced by the court before the MSRB (retirement board) considers the matter,” a spokesperson for the State Treasurer’s workplace mentioned in a press release. “As soon as it’s on an agenda, the Board considers what motion to take, and greater than doubtless will vote that the matter goes to a listening to officer.
“Then the hearing officer conducts a hearing where evidence is presented and argument as to whether the person’s conduct has a legal or factual link to their job,” the spokesperson added.
The listening to officer then prepares a suggestion, and presents it to the board.
“Assuming the hearing officer finds that there was a legal and/or factual link, the Board will vote on the whether the member’s pension is forfeited or not,” the spokesperson mentioned. “Usually, the Board votes based mostly on the advice of the listening to officer.
“The member is entitled to their total accumulated deductions without interest earned, and depending on when they retired, the Board may be able to recover the amount of retirement benefits that it paid that is in excess of the total accumulated deductions,” the spokesperson added.
If the board votes to forfeit the individual’s pension, the member’s cost will likely be stopped efficient the date of the suspension.
Cederquist was answerable for MSP’s CDL Unit, which is accountable for administering CDL abilities exams.
Between February 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist organized for him and his co-conspirators to offer passing scores to no less than three dozen candidates no matter whether or not or not they’d truly handed or, in some circumstances, had even taken the CDL abilities check — together with in some cases in alternate for bribes.
Cederquist and his co-conspirators used the code phrase “golden handshake” or “golden” to determine candidates who obtained particular therapy, and had been to be given passing scores on their abilities exams no matter efficiency.
In textual content message conversations, Cederquist and his co-conspirators described a lot of “golden” candidates as performing poorly on their abilities exams. Nevertheless, the entire candidates obtained passing scores.
Cederquist additionally conspired along with his buddy who labored for a water firm that employed drivers who wanted CDLs, to offer passing scores to sure candidates affiliated with the water firm.
In alternate for the passing scores, Cederquist accepted bribes of free stock from the water firm, corresponding to circumstances of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, circumstances of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, espresso and tea merchandise and packing containers of Twizzlers and Swedish Fish.
Cederquist accepted quite a lot of bribes together with stock from the water firm valued within the 1000’s of {dollars}; a $750 granite put up and mailbox; a brand new driveway valued at over $10,000; and a snowblower valued at almost $2,000. Cederquist described one such applicant as “horrible,” and “brain dead,” however gave him a passing rating anyway in alternate for the snowblower.
He’s anticipated to be sentenced on July 24.
The costs of conspiracy to falsify data, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, sincere companies mail fraud, and falsification of data can result in a sentence of as much as 20 years in jail, as much as three years of supervised launch and a positive of as much as $250,000.
