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Ex-state trooper gets 3 months in prison for role in scheme to falsify commercial driver’s license scores
Calvin Butner, 64, of Halifax was also sentenced to one year of supervised release.
A former Massachusetts state trooper was sentenced in federal court in Boston Tuesday, ordered to serve three months in prison for his role in a scheme to take bribes in exchange for giving passing scores on commercial driving tests.
Calvin Butner, of Halifax, was also sentenced to one year of supervised release, U.S. Attorney Leah B. Foley’s office said in a statement. He was one four members of the Massachusetts State Police who were charged last year in a 74-count indictment related to the alleged conspiracy. Former troopers Gary Cederquist, Joel Rogers, and Perry Mendes were also charged in the case.
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Butner, 64, pleaded guilty in April to one count of conspiracy to falsify records, three counts of falsifying records and aiding and abetting, and five counts of making false statements.
Authorities alleged that, between May 2019 and January 2023, Butner and three other members of the Massachusetts State Police CDL Unit gave preferential treatment to at least 17 drivers who were taking their commercial drivers license or CDL test. CDLs are required to drive a commercial vehicle, such as a tractor trailer or school bus.
Butner additionally gave passing scores to three applicants who failed the test and to five applicants who did not take the test at all, according to Foley’s office.
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Even when the drivers failed, the troopers allegedly passed them and communicated to one another that they had done so using the code word “golden.”
Prosecutors allege some of the troopers joked in the text messages about how badly a driver had performed on the test.
“This guys a mess. . . . Lol. He owes u a prime rib 6inch,” Butner texted to another trooper, prosectors said Tuesday.
Another of the ex-troopers involved, Mendes, was sentenced last week to a month in prison, according to The Boston Globe. Cederquist was convicted in May of 48 counts of conspiracy, extortion, honest services mail fraud, falsifying records, and making false statements. Rogers was given a deferred prosecution agreement, according to the Globe, which means his charges will be dismissed if he abides by specified conditions.
Scott Camara, a driving school worker from Rehoboth, and Eric Mathison, who worked for a company that employed drivers who needed commercial licenses, have also pleaded guilty to charges related to the conspiracy.
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