Texas DPS employee charged for CDL test scheme

Three people, including a Texas Department of Public Safety employee, have been indicted for their alleged role in a CDL scheme.

According to court documents, Alonzo Blackman, Fernando Guardado Vasquez and Marino Maury Diaz-Leon were indicted in a federal court on July 23 in San Antonio. The indictment accuses the three of falsifying skills tests for commercial driver’s license applicants.

From January 2017 to June 2019, Vazquez and Diaz-Leon, both Cuban citizens who reside in Texas, are alleged to have paid Blackman, a DPS employee, to falsely certify that certain applicants for CDLs had passed their skills portion of the test. Those applicants had either previously failed the test or otherwise would have failed if taken under normal conditions.

According to the court documents, Vazquez and Diaz-Leon would provide Blackman with the names and information of the applicants. Blackman would then falsely indicate that the applicants had passed their skills test. Subsequently, he would print out a temporary CDL license for those applicants. Unknowingly, DPS would send them a permanent CDL under the assumption they had satisfied all of the requirements.

The majority of these illegally obtained CDLs were allegedly handed out to Cuban citizens living in the U.S. Court documents do not mention how many CDLs were fraudulently obtained. How much Blackman was paid for his alleged role in the scheme is also unknown.

All three defendants face charges of one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud, one count of conspiracy to produce identification documents without lawful authority and one count of conspiracy to transfer identification documents created without lawful authority.

Both Vazquez and Diaz-Leon pleaded not guilty. A trial is set for the two defendants on Oct. 7. As of Friday, Aug. 9, Blackman had not entered a plea.

The investigation was led by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the DPS Texas Rangers.