A city school bus driver nabbed in a motor vehicle license exam scam voluntarily turned himself in Wednesday — by parking his 10-seat yellow school bus smack in front of the Manhattan DA’s office, authorities said Tuesday.
Accused test cheater Jean Destin even took his stunned bus matron along for the ride, officials said.
“We’ve never seen anything like that,” said state Inspector General Catherine Leahy Scott, who assisted Manhattan DA Cy Vance in gaining indictments against 21 drivers, including Destin, for cheating on their DMV commercial license exam.
Destin later told detectives that he needed to call his company, Leesel Transportation Corp., to fetch the bus.
It’s the second major bust in the mushrooming testing scandal. In September, 19 other defendants were charged.
Drivers have to pass two commercial DMV exams to operate a school bus or handle tractor trailers that carry hazardous chemicals and petroleum.
Prosecutors charge that the defendants paid as much as $4,000 to receive answers from someone else.
Thanks to lax and complicit security, the test-takers were able to take exam materials outside the testing area and leave the building. Runners took the exams to people waiting at a nearby downtown restaurant t fill in the answers.
The scammers then returned to the testing room and handed in their exams in the scheme to fraudulently obtain their licenses between April and August of last year. Security guards who took bribes and aided and abetted cheating also were charged.
Destin was informed that authorities had reason to believe he cheated on the so-called “core” test — and it was invalidated. He then retook it and passed.
The defendants are charged with offering a false instrument for filing in the first degree, a Class E felony, and three counts of filing false statements, alteration of records or substitutions in connections with exams — all misdemeanor counts.
“We entrust the holders of specialized licenses to drive our kids to school, transport dangerous materials, and perform important tasks, all behind the wheels of large motor vehicles. It is critical that these drivers have the necessary skills and knowledge to perform these duties safely,” said DA Vance.
“The defendants are accused of fraudulently obtaining specialized licenses, putting at risk the lives of everyone who shares our roadways.
Said IG Scott: “Test cheating put innocent people at grave risk and cannot be tolerated.”
The defendants, all arraigned in Manhattan state Supreme Court, pleaded not guilty.
DMV officials have tightened their supervision of the commercial license exams in the wake of the scandal, sources said.
Authorities said the investigation is continuing.