Former DMV Employee Sentenced for a Scheme to Issue Commercial Licenses to Unqualified Drivers

Former DMV Employee Sentenced for a Scheme to Issue Commercial Licenses to Unqualified Drivers

Former DMV Employee Sentenced for a Scheme to Issue Commercial Licenses to Unqualified Drivers

U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of California
15 November 2019

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Defendants worked in DMV offices in Arleta, Granada Hills, and Winnetka

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Lisa Terraciano, 53, of North Hollywood, was sentenced today to three years and four months in prison for a conspiracy to take bribes to provide Class A commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) without the commercial applicants having to take or pass the required tests, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced.

On November 3, 2017, former DMV employees Terraciano and Kari Scattaglia, 40, of Sylmar, pleaded guilty to a conspiracy to commit bribery, to commit identity fraud, and to commit unauthorized access of a computer. On Aug. 29, 2019, Scattaglia was sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for her participation in the conspiracy.

According to court documents, Terraciano worked for the DMV since June 2005 and was a Motor Vehicle Representative (MVR) in the Winnetka DMV office from 2014 through 2017. Scattaglia worked as a manager, assistant manager, and a Licensing-Registration Examiner (LRE) at the Arleta DMV and the Granada Hills Driver License Processing Center. Among other things, Terraciano and Scattaglia were responsible for processing applications for California CDLs. A CDL is required to drive passenger buses and to operate tractor-trailer trucks on California and interstate highways, including, in some cases, transporting hazardous materials.

In exchange for money, Terraciano and Scattaglia each accessed the DMV’s database in Sacramento to alter the records of commercial applicants to fraudulently show that the applicants had passed the required written tests when, in truth, the applicants had not passed the tests or, at times, even taken the written tests. In so doing, this caused the DMV to issue permits to those drivers as well as issue completed CDLs upon the applicants’ passing the behind-the-wheel driving tests.

According to the plea agreements, Terraciano caused at least 148 fraudulent CDLs, including permits, to be issued, and Scattaglia caused at least 68 fraudulent CDLs, including permits, to be issued.

This case was the product of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Transportation – Office of Inspector General, and the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Office of Internal Affairs. Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosanne L. Rust is prosecuting the case.

Press Release Number: 2:17-cr-187 GEB