A former Hamblen County, TN, sheriff's deputy has admitted in U.S. District Court to falsifying commercial driver's license testing and applications, according to press accounts.

Jessee E. York, 63, was a third-party CDL tester for Lakeway Trucking of Morristown, TN, at the time of the offenses; however, the trucking firm is not accused of wrongdoing.

He was operating under the jurisdiction of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. York, from February 1999 until May 2001, was authorized to issue a "CDL Third Party Driver Examiner Testing Certificate," which represented that the holder had passed the test.

Court documents filed after York agreed to plead guilty alleged that at least 48 CDL applicants were given documents filled out by York, indicating they had completed the required road test, when in fact they had not taken the test.

According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Guy Blackwell, each test, if properly conducted, should take approximately one and one-half hours to complete.

"State law allowed York to charge a maximum fee of $75 for the testing, but in some instances, he charged more to not conduct the testing," the prosecutor said in court documents.

An investigation was begun in 2001 by the U.S. Department of Transportation's inspector general, following a referral by the Tennessee Highway Patrol. The THP suggested that York was not conducting the tests in accordance with state and federal requirements.

York admitted to falsely certifying CDL documents without actually having conducted the skills testing required by law, according to court documents. He is to be sentenced May 10 before U.S. Magistrate Dennis Inman.