She flunked Criminality 101.
A wannabe whiz who was paid to illegally take commercial driver’s license exams for desperate applicants repeatedly failed the test, according to a Brooklyn federal court complaint.
Marie Daniel was part of a ragtag group that used corrupt security guards and coded pencils to help CDL applicants cheat on their qualification tests at local DMVs where the exams are given and monitored, papers state.
But despite receiving thousands of dollars for her services, Daniel was rarely able to pass the test – even while leisurely sitting in a restaurant with the help of a laptop.
A slightly more successful arm of the gang sold special pencils marked up with a series of dashes and dots that corresponded to correct true and false answers, papers state.
At one meeting with an informant this past May, a Akmal “Soldier” Narzikulov requested $2,500 to provide the magic pencil.
The informant passed the test – the first step in acquiring a license to drive a school bus – and left the office.
Daniel’s crew paid off DMV security guards to look the other way while applicants took the tests off site to nearby restaurants where she filled them out, papers state.
One undercover was told to pick up CDL tests from a DMV clerk, watch for an all clear signal from a security guard, and to then leave the office with the test, court papers state.
The agent met Daniel at a nearby restaurant where she calmly filled out the answers – with a little help from a laptop computer.
After forking over $2,400, the undercover went back inside, turned in the test and was told that he flunked.
Crew member Dale Harper said not to worry – Daniel could take it another time – but she failed again.
And when one location got too sticky, the crew shifted operations to other DMVs where fresh guards had been paid off.
Other crew members even provided forged medical certifications required for the CDL license.
The operation was eventually undone by a network of undercover federal agents, informants, and NYPD cops who were tipped off to the rampant cheating at DMV locations in Queens, Long Island, and Manhattan.
The entire outfit was arraigned yesterday in Brooklyn federal court on mail fraud raps and pleaded not guilty.