Two men have been arrested and a Fort Lauderdale, FL, trucking firm searched Thursday as part of a federal investigation into allegations of bribery and fraud involving commercial driver licenses. Lech Rzendzian of Wheeling, Il, and Felix O. Mamedov, of Palm Coast, have been charged with ``interstate travel in aid of racketeering.''
Rzendzian is in Illinois and Mamedov is being held without bail in Fort Lauderdale.
Federal authorities said Thursday that agents seized property and interviewed workers at Three "S" Trucking Inc. of Fort Lauderdale, where company officials denied any involvement in the scam. No one at the company has been charged.
The arrests and probe were part of a two-year federal investigation called "Operation Safe Road." The focus of the probe has been primarily Illinois and Florida.
According to a story in The Miami Herald, the probe has resulted in 43 arrests and 37 convictions.
Documents released Thursday stated Rzendzian and Mamedov had arranged for applicants to travel from Chicago to Florida, where the defendants allegedly paid bribes to third-party commercial license examiners. "He would charge the Chicago applicants up to $2,000 and Mamedov $1,800," said Randall Samborn, an assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago.
Reportedly, the men brought mostly non-English-speaking Eastern European immigrants to several cities in Florida to take written tests, where translators ensured success, the document said. The two defendants then allegedly told applicants to go to Fort Lauderdale for their driving tests. Some who failed the driving tests -- including an undercover FBI agent -- got passing grades anyway, officials said.
Harry Jenner, co-owner of Three "S" Trucking, said Mamedov brought drivers to his company for a $210 road test. Three "S" was authorized by the state of Florida to administer driving tests.
Prosecutors didn't know how many would-be truckers were given CDLs through the latest scheme, but said it could be worse than the operation they closed down last year in which about 1,000 drivers received CDLs.
