More drivers are coming forward claiming they have no idea how they got connected to a scandal at the Massachusetts RMV. After a state investigation revealed hundreds of drivers were granted licenses without having to take a road test at the Brockton Service Center, NBC10 Boston is learning more about some of the employees who were fired as a result.
Transportation officials said approximately 2,100 drivers were given licenses without taking a road test starting in April of 2018. They said a supervisor noticed suspicious activity in 2020 and now two road test examiners and two service center employees are now off the job.
MassDOT and the RMV are not releasing the names of the employees who were fired, but NBC10 Boston spoke with several family members of one of the examiners. They said he has worked in Brockton for years, takes his job seriously and did not do anything wrong.
"It’s very unfortunate. I dealt with both of the road test examiners who were relieved. I was quite surprised at one of them, but I was not surprised at the other one," Alicia Tantillo of Champion Driving School in Brockton said.
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Tantillo, who rides in the backseat while her students take the road test, said she never witnessed anyone getting a license without completing it. She said she did report one of the examiners involved in the scandal for a different issue. She said he was not following the sponsor rules during the road test and when he found out about her complaint, she said he got angry.
"He was blowing up my phone. He lost his mind. He was probably already being investigated at that point," Tantillo said.
Greg Sullivan, the research director at the Pioneer Institute and a former Massachusetts Insepctor General called what happened at the Brockton RMV "outrageous."
"The registry has become the black sheep of state government," Sullivan said. "The fact that state employees would do this? Where is the duty?"
Sullivan said the state also did a lot wrong when it comes to transparency about the investigation.
The registry has been aware of this problem since last April. It’s been kept under wraps now for coming up on a year," Sullivan said.
Gov. Charlie Baker was asked why it took so long at an event on Thursday.
"It didn’t happen for that long. It was one of those thing where the investigation went on for a long time, but that’s because people wanted to make sure they got to every piece of the behavior and activity that led to that," Baker said.
Baker would not share which law enforcement agency is investigating. A spokesperson for the Massachusetts State Police did not have any information and referred all questions to the RMV. The agency has not responded to any follow-up questions after putting out the initial release on the investigation. There is still no word on whether or not any of the employees will face any criminal charges.
