A former North Carolina third-party commercial driver's license tester has been sentenced in U.S. District Court in Raleigh, NC, to five years' probation for his role in a scheme to fraudulently certify CDL skills tests from March to December 1997.

The tester, James A. Schlosser of Fletcher, NC, has been ordered to perform 150 hours of community service. Schlosser was the final defendant in a case that resulted in the suspension of 67 CDLs and requiring the applicants to take legitimate CDL tests, which many failed.

The other two defendants in the case, Lee Roy and Elmer Searcey, pleaded guilty in May 2000 to fraudulently using Schlosser's testing-certification number to administer unauthorized CDL exams. Schlosser signed the exam sheets as though he had administered the tests himself and knowing that the CDL examinations did not meet required federal and state skill-tests standards.