Mass. State Police sgt. who orchestrated driver’s license scheme sentenced to prison
A former sergeant in the Massachusetts State Police was sentenced to six years in prison on Tuesday for his role in orchestrating a scheme to provide commercial driver's licenses to applicants who hadn't earned them , in exchange for material goods such as a new driveway, bottles of water and candy.
Gary Cederquist, 60, was convicted of a laundry list of criminal charges following a trial in federal court. Jurors found him guilty of multiple counts of conspiracy to falsify records, conspiracy to commit extortion, honest services mail fraud, falsification of records, aiding and abetting falsification of records, false statements and aiding and abetting false statements.
He was also convicted of a single count of extortion. That all adds up to 48 counts of a 74-count indictment against Cederquist and several co-conspirators, all of whom either pleaded guilty or reached an agreement with the government to avoid trial. Cederquist was acquitted of nine counts.
Cederquist wore a blue suit with an American flag pin during the hearing. He entered the courtroom with a handful of supporters, including his wife.
Addressing U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani before she handed down the sentence, Cederquist expressed regret for his actions, saying he had let down present, past and future members of the State Police. He noted he worked for the commonwealth for more than four decades.
"I would like to say I'm sorry," he said.
In explaining her sentence, Talwani told Cederquist his crimes represented "very, very substantial corruption on multiple occasions."
"Part of what you did is destroy other people's lives around you," she said.
Cederquist did not answer when a reporter asked for comment after the sentencing. His family and friends declined to comment.
Kevin Reddington, Cederquist's defense attorney, said Talwani articulated her rationale for the sentence effectively.
Reddington deemed the sentence "very fair," speaking to a reporter outside the courtroom.
Cederquist and three other troopers who worked in the Commercial Driver's License Unit — Perry Mendes , Calvin Butner and Joel Rogers — were indicted in January 2024. Along with the four troopers, two civilians — Scott Camara and Eric Mathison — also faced charges.
Butner, Camara, Mathison and Mendes all pleaded guilty to criminal charges. Rogers entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the government.
On top of the prison time, Cederquist will have to pay a $30,000 fine, restitution totaling $18,300 and a special assessment of $4,800. Cederquist will also serve two years of supervised release.
Prosecutors recommended a sentence of nine years in prison for Cederquist. Federal sentencing guidelines calculated by probation call for a sentence of 97 to 121 months, or 8 to 10 years.
Assistant United States Attorney Adam Deitch said in court Tuesday that Cederquist ran the CDL unit as his own "criminal cartel."
Deitch emphasized the danger of Cederquist's actions: every time he took a bribe, or passed a driver who failed a test, or administered an incomplete test, or did any of the other conduct he was convicted of, he was "endangering the people of the Commonwealth," the prosecutor said.
Cederquist's case is the "most egregious example of police corruption prosecuted in recent memory in this courthouse," Deitch said. His conduct is more egregious than the State Police troopers or Boston police officers convicted of overtime fraud, he said, because the "consequences [were] far more dire and the conduct far more brazen."
In their sentencing memo, prosecutors wrote that Cederquist "transformed the CDL Unit into a criminal enterprise doling out commercial driver's licenses to his own friends and acquaintances, or to people willing to pay to play, as he alone saw fit," prosecutors wrote. "He openly mocked applicants who proved they could not drive the trucks for which they sought licenses and, so long as they had the right connections or were willing to pay, made sure they got CDLs anyway."
Reddington did not contest that Cederquist deserved jail time for his conduct. Cederquist "recognizes he needs to be punished," Reddington said.
Reddington acknowledged Cederquist was in a different situation than other defendants, having gone to trial and being convicted, rather than resolving his case ahead of time. But at trial, Cederquist did not testify in his own defense and did not present any evidence other than cross-examination of witnesses.
The commercial driver's license scheme, Reddington wrote in a sentencing memo, was simply the "sad end of [an] otherwise respectable law enforcement career."
In issuing her sentence, Talwani drew a distinction between what she described as low-level corruption: letting friends and family cut the line to get licenses, for example, and what Cederquist did.
"I don't know how much of it was shortsighted and how much of it was callous," she said.
The fact that Cederquist, who ran the unit, was the one who orchestrated the scheme, was used by Talwani as a reason to give out lighter sentences to his co-defendants.
Cederquist is required to report for his prison sentence in six weeks.
"Mr. Cederquist, I wish you luck," Talwani said before adjourning the hearing.
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