Harold G. Stewart, a third-party commercial drivers’ license examiner, pled guilty Feb. 23 in U.S. District Court in Baton Rouge, La., to one count of making a false statement in connection with his role in the falsification of 250 out of 320 CDL skills tests he conducted.
Stewart worked for Zwolle-based Stewart Auto Sales & Salvage, a business authorized by the Louisiana Department of Public Safety Office of Motor Vehicles to perform CDL skills testing of driver candidates. A state compliance review conducted by LADPS OMV revealed Stewart had tested an inordinate amount of CDL candidates with no failure ratings.
During the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General’s interview of Stewart, he admitted to falsifying the skills test for 250 CDL candidates, for which he was paid about $200 per test. LADPS OMV recalled and retested all 320 CDL drivers.
