Disgraced ex-Mass State Police Sgt. Gary Cederquist who was convicted within the driver’s license bribery scheme has gotten his federal sentencing delayed once more, as his legal professional is busy defending a homicide suspect.
Cederquist again on Might 2 was discovered responsible of 48 counts in reference to the Industrial Driver’s License bribery scandal. He confronted dozens of fees for falsifying information and giving passing scores to CDL candidates, together with individuals who failed or didn’t take the CDL abilities check, in alternate for bribes.
Cederquist’s preliminary sentencing was scheduled for July 24, however now the date has been pushed till Oct. 14 — as his lawyer defends a first-degree homicide suspect who allegedly beat his father to demise with a dumbbell.
That defendant is Brockton man Stephen Walcott Jr., who’s on trial in Plymouth County. Again in 2021, he allegedly killed his 70-year-old father in his dad’s East Bridgewater dwelling.
“… A verbal altercation ensued, and Walcott II beat his father about the head and face with his fists,” the Plymouth DA’s workplace wrote again in 2021. “He additionally took a dumbbell and struck Walcott Sr. in the back of the head, and also attempted to suffocate him.”
In the meantime because the homicide trial begins, his legal professional Kevin Reddington acquired the federal decide within the Cederquist case to delay the ex-statie’s sentencing till mid-October.
Cederquist was accountable for MSP’s CDL Unit, which is accountable for administering CDL abilities checks. The CDL abilities check is a demanding, in-person check that consists of three segments: Automobile Inspection; Primary Management Abilities; and the Highway Check.
Between February 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist organized for him and his co-conspirators to offer passing scores to at the very least three dozen candidates no matter whether or not or not that they had really handed or, in some instances, had even taken the CDL abilities check — together with in some situations in alternate for bribes.
Cederquist and his co-conspirators used the code phrase “golden handshake” or “golden” to establish candidates who obtained particular remedy, and have been to be given passing scores on their abilities checks no matter efficiency.
In textual content message conversations, Cederquist and his co-conspirators described quite a few “golden” candidates as performing poorly on their abilities checks. Nonetheless, all the candidates obtained passing scores.
Cederquist additionally conspired along with his pal 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, akin to instances of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, instances of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, espresso and tea merchandise, and containers of Twizzlers and Swedish Fish.
Cederquist accepted a wide range of bribes together with stock from the water firm valued within the hundreds of {dollars}; a $750 granite submit and mailbox; a brand new driveway valued at over $10,000; and a snowblower valued at practically $2,000. Cederquist described one such applicant as “horrible,” and “brain dead,” however gave him a passing rating anyway in alternate for the snowblower.
