Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced on Oct. 9 a 51-count indictment against three New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (“DMV”) employees, the sister of one of the employees, and three commercial driver’s license (CDL) applicants, including two Town of Hempstead employees, for engaging in a scheme to cheat on CDL exams and process permits for no-show CDL applicants.

Former DMV Supervisor Kanaisha Middleton, 33; Motor Vehicle Representative Tawanna Whitfield, 36; Motor Vehicle Representative Satoya Mitchell, 35; and Kanaisha Middleton’s sister, Jamie Middleton, 35, were arraigned on indictment charges of:

• impairing the integrity of a government licensing examination (a D felony);
• corrupting the government in the fourth degree (an E felony);
• tampering with public records in the first degree (a D felony);
• falsifying business records in the first degree (an E felony); and
• falsifying business records in the second degree (an A misdemeanor).

CDL permit applicants James Nurse, 42; Omesh Mohan, 42; and Rene Sarduy, 44, were also charged in the indictment with tampering with public records in the first degree and falsifying business records in the first degree.

Mitchell, Whitfield, Nurse, and Jamie Middleton surrendered to Nassau County DA (NCDA) Detective Investigators and were arraigned on Oct. 1. They were released on their own recognizance and were each due back in court on Nov. 6.

Sarduy and Mohan surrendered and were arraigned on Oct. 3. They were both due back in court on Nov. 12. Kanaisha Middleton surrendered and was arraigned on Oct. 8. She was due back in court on Nov. 12.

If convicted, all the defendants face a maximum sentence of 2 and a third to 7 years in prison. Donnelly said, “This scheme was an unbelievable organized breach of public trust and the trust of millions of drivers using Long Island’s roads. A ring of DMV employees who, working together, allegedly manipulated the commercial driver’s license exam process, allowing no-show applicants to cheat the system and skip their tests, giving them CDL permits that they did not earn and were not qualified to hold.”

She added, “At least one applicant, a Town of Hempstead Sanitation Department employee, was issued a full CDL license which he used to operate recycling trucks in our neighborhoods. Safely driving large trucks on our roads requires understanding the rules. A single second hesitation or misjudgment could spell catastrophe.”

She continued, “These defendants demonstrated for the right price they would sell out their integrity and the safety of others. That breakdown posed a risk to us all, and with the assistance of our partners at the New York State Inspector General’s Office, we uncovered this scheme and put an end to it.”

For her part, Lang said, “The state employees charged in this 51-count indictment sold out not just the safety of their fellow New Yorkers, but they sold out their oaths of office.” She continued, “This is now the second corruption scheme my office uncovered this year involving DMV employees who saw public service not as the privilege that it is, but as a permission slip for corruption. Thank you to Nassau District Attorney Donnelly and her team for their partnership and to the Department of Motor Vehicles for their initial referral and cooperation.”

According to the indictment and investigation, the allegations were first reported to the New York State Inspector General’s Office from a supervisor in the Garden City branch of the DMV who alleged that employees were processing CDL permit applications without applicants sitting for the required tests at the DMV location.

To obtain a CDL permit, applicants must provide proof of identification in the form of a class “D” license or other form of government issued identification, as well as proof of legal status in the United States.

Motor Vehicle Representatives (“MVRs”), employees of the DMV, then verify an applicant’s identity, matching their provided license with internal, digitized DMV records.

Once an applicant’s identity is verified, they are assigned to a testing station in an exam room to take a CDL permit exam on a computer terminal. Scores are automatically generated and stored on terminals in the exam room. If an applicant passes the exam, they can obtain their permit on the same day by seeing a MVR with their identification and a completed MV44 form.

According to the investigation and surveillance video obtained from DMV, on six separate dates between March 2023 and September 2023, Jamie Middleton, sister of DMV supervisor Kanaisha Middleton, allegedly approached DMV employees dressed in various disguises and purported to be different CDL and class “D” permit applicants seeking to take the exams.

Middleton was allegedly dressed in baggy clothing, facemasks, construction jackets and fake facial hair when she approached DMV employees to gain access to the testing room.

On each of the dates, Middleton was allegedly given access to the testing room by MVRs Tawanna Whitfield and Satoya Mitchell, participants in the scheme, despite Middleton’s appearance not matching the identification and DMV records for the applicants for whom she was posing.

On May 23, 2023, Middleton allegedly took exams for two applicants, defendants Rene Sarduy, a Town of Hempstead Department of Highway employee, and Omesh Mohan, less than five minutes apart and wearing the exact same clothing.

Mohan and Sarduy allegedly both went to different DMV locations in Springfield Gardens and Bethpage in the following days to provide their paperwork and obtain their interim permits.

The DMV requires that each CDL interim permit holder also pass a specified CDL road test in order to obtain their CDL license. Both Mohan and Sarduy were never issued full licenses and the investigation determined that Mohan in fact failed the CDL road test.

Jamie Middleton allegedly took nine CDL exams in this period and passed the test eight times for seven applicants. Six of those applicants were never issued full CDL licenses.

Defendant James Nurse, a Town of Hempstead Sanitation employee, received an interim permit on August 16, 2023, at the Massapequa branch of the DMV after Jamie Middleton allegedly took his exam two days before in Garden City.

Nurse was issued a full CDL license on Sept. 28, 2023, and NCDA’s investigation revealed that the defendant later used his illegally obtained CDL license to drive recycling trucks for the sanitation department.

NCDA thanked the NYS Inspector General’s Office for its partnership and assistance with the investigation and prosecution of the case. NCDA also thanked the NYS Department of Motor Vehicles for its cooperation and assistance.

This interactive map shows traffic data for traffic in and around New York City and its environs. The Norwood News print edition is printed on Long Island, is transported by road to The Bronx, and is presumably among several other commercial deliveries to the borough.

In August, a truck driver, who reportedly was an undocumented immigrant who had obtained a California-issued commercial license, was taken into custody after allegedly making an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike that caused a crash killing four South Florida residents. NPR discusses the general topic of CDL license issuance in a recent story here.

A truck driver, allegedly an undocumented immigrant with a California-issued commercial license, is in custody after making an illegal U-turn on Florida’s Turnpike that caused a crash killing four South Florida residents. Video courtesy of CBS Miami via YouTube

Meanwhile, the Nassau County case in New York is being prosecuted by Senior Investigative Counsel Kathleen Swenson and Assistant District Attorney Valerie Timmerman of the Public Corruption Bureau, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Jesse Aviram and Bureau Chief Kristen Fexas, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for the Investigations Division Rick Whelan.

Mitchell is represented by Nicholas Carra, Esq. Whitfield is represented by Gregory Zak, Esq. Nurse is represented by Mitchell Barnett, Esq. Jamie Middleton is represented by Jeffrey Groder, Esq. Sarduy is represented by Steve Gaitman, Esq. Mohan is represented by Michael Bassett, Esq. Kanaisha Middleton is represented by Jacob Uriel, Esq.

The charges are merely accusations, and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until found guilty in a court of law.

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.