A Boston driving instructor is on the hook for conspiring to grease the wheels at the RMV, agreeing to plead guilty to charges that he paid off a road test examiner to falsely pass applicants - some of whom didn't even bother to take the wheel. Ngan Dinh, 48, is charged with a single count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud, according to an announcement made by the U.S. Attorney's Office.
Dinh, who is now waiting for the court to schedule his plea hearing, is accused of slipping cash to an examiner at the Brockton RMV to claim that these drivers had aced their exams, when they had actually either flunked or were no-shows, as stated in the charging document. Caught in a compromised position, the RMV inadvertently mailed driver's licenses to a bunch of unworthy recipients.
Facing a heavy toll of up to 20 years behind bars, three years of supervised release, and a not-so-petty cash fine of $250,000, Dinh's prospects are looking pretty bleak. This sentencing guidelines and statutes that are rooted in the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines will determine his fate, once a federal district court judge puts the hammer down.
The investigation was a joint effort by Homeland Security Investigations in New England, led by Special Agent in Charge Michael J. Krol, and the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, with Christopher A. Scharf at the helm. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Christine J. Wichers and Adam W. Deitch, who belong to the Public Corruption & Special Prosecution Unit. The damning allegations within the charging document hold Dinh in an innocent light until he is possibly dragged through the mud in a trial, proving otherwise.
