For around a decade, the owners of two trucking companies were ordering their drivers to falsify their safety records, threatening to fire them if they didn’t. They were caught, indicted, and charged with serious federal crimes. Now, they’ll walk with zero jail time and a fine of only $1,250.
Leslie Cucino and Robert Cucino Jr. owned CDE Corporation and Winsor Hill Hauling and Recycling Corporation, two carriers that hauled mostly scrap metal between Massachusetts and Rhode Island. In 2018 they were each indicted by a grand jury on one count of conspiracy and six counts of false statements.
An investigation found that the owners had been threatening to fire their drivers if they didn’t falsify their Drivers Vehicle Inspection Reports (DVIRs) to make it look like their vehicles had no problems. The falsification was so blatant that clean DVIRs were submitted on vehicles even when they had been cited for serious maintenance violations earlier the same day. According to the Department of Justice, the falsification had been going on since at least 2009.
This Monday the DOJ put out a press release which announced that the Cucinos admitted to “directing truck drivers over a period of years not to report safety defects on the DVIRs as they were required to do.”
All charges against the Cucinos were dropped in exchange for a guilty plea of “failure to comply with Department of Transportation regulations.” They were sentenced to 12 months of probation and fined $1,250. The maximum fine for knowingly falsifying DVIRs just once is over ten times that amount: $12,695.
Source: DOJ, truckersreport, DOJ, cornelllaw, sfchronicle, wpri
Billy Jones says
Sounds like someone is in somebody’s pocket.
ROBERT M AVILA says
Agreed. If they for years made the decision to lie, cheat and endanger not just their driving force but the public, a bribe to an official or political hack is definitely in that wheel house.
GOP says
Is massachussetts and rhode island your two typical corrupt mafia states from the north east.
Albert Ferguson says
Yes.
Robert says
How do you not mention the ATA and its Coruption of politicians?
Lisa says
You took the words right out of my mouth. Somebody got paid.
Christopher says
Caregan transport out of Richmond Indiana needs to be investigated
Daniel says
And you wonder why trucking companies continue to screw the system.
There are essentially no consequences for their actions so they will continue to do it until you throw the m************ in jail for 10 years and don’t stop putting them in jail until they stop screwing around.
Al Carlock says
They admitted to it wow now wonder if the driver falsified logs would they get same deal mostly not
sonny Pruitt says
Obviously they did. For nearly a decade.
Richard L Hensley says
Actually, they need to start badgering the larger companies more intensely or just stop enforcement altogether. Too much kickback, too many kickbacks from dishonest purchasing agents and freight brokers. Everybody send to be sticking their fingers in the political money pockets of crooks, while the truck drivers and owner operator pay the price and try to survive in this cut throat business.
Richard L Hensley says
Actually, they need to start badgering the larger companies more intensely or just stop enforcement altogether. Too much favoritism, too many kickbacks from dishonest purchasing agents and freight brokers. Everybody seems to be sticking their fingers in the political money pockets of crooks, while the truck drivers and owner operators pay the price and try to survive in this cut throat business. Senseless hours of service logs and mandates that are apparently set forth to drive out free Enterprise and owner operators who just want to make a decent living.
sonny Pruitt says
These loads only pay so much, whether you split the money one way or ten ways,the amount that a shipper is going to pay doesn’t increase based on the number of fingers in the pie.it is what it is. I always liked one finger,my own,in the pie,if you’re going to have all of the headache might as well have all the money.
Windybag says
Agreed
Rawdog says
I got caught in an audit, they checked one month and I was “false critical” for 19 days, I ended up getting fined for 2 of those days each day was an $1800 fine … could have been much worse! But apparently it could have been sooo much better if I had just been a boss who was doing that stuff my fine could have been much less… what’s funny is the 2 of us who got caught had similar fines but the boss had about $30k in fines … guess he should have gotten a lawyer like these 2 crooks did
William says
Somebody got a huge payoff! Corrupt government officials!
mousekiller says
I am from the old school of trucking. Back in the day I had a company try that crap with me. I had friends in the HP . So every time I had issues with dispatch and or the equipment I allowed my self to be pulled over my my friendly HP officers. Of course I invited them. They would inspect my truck and make sure it was OOS. It did not take long to get their equipment back in shape and for me to go to work elsewhere. They didn’t stay in business long. I was not the only driver to do this as it turned out. Drivers have some control. They either don’t know how to use it or are afraid to.
Kelli says
Back in the day, the companies were fined for equipment violations. Now drivers are fined for leaving with the equipment that had issues. They moved the responsibility from the companies to drivers, the drivers get the fine, the drivers get their MVR dinged and then all too often the drivers get fired for a BS reason.
MrYowler says
Drivers have some influence – not control.
And after being fired for failing roadside inspections over equipment violations that we have no power to force a carrier to fix (or for refusing to drive the aforementioned inadequate equipment), the carrier notes to your DAC report and to the unemployment insurance office, that were terminated for safety violations and/or refusing to work. Maybe you get this cleared up, months later, and maybe you don’t, but if you were desperate enough to take a job with carrier in the first place, you probably go broke and lose everything while you fight. And your resulting losses still don’t add up to enough to be worth a contingency lawyer’s time, and you’re too broke to pay a legal retainer, so you eat the losses, and the carrier screws you and gets off scot-free, no matter what you do.
I sure miss your good ol’ days. Wish I coulda been there to see ’em…
Tlm says
What a crock. A lot of these trucking companies do the same thing. The driver gets raked through the coals and suffer the regs but companies seem to never have anything done to them.
Samuel Gallezzo says
Sounds like a bribe was made. In Illinois the department of revenue and workers comp ignore dirty companies. I’ve been reporting bad companies for years. Safety is just something the government pretends to care about.
Vanya Kouveli says
Members of the same Masonic Lodge or Rot(ten)ary Club with the “judge”. Disgusting
Glen handwerk says
I had same issue with airgas and Georgia dot or union did nothing all about $
Glen handwerk says
All a waste of time no enforcement only quick money and screw drivers safety my ads everyone of u officers of cutthroat s
L.A. Draper says
What a bad joke. Remember, law enforcement personnel investigated and brought charges. This matter should be investigated. This is a green light for others to do the same.
PAMELA E HAM says
It is just more lies.
Joe2boltz says
Sounds like bs. All these drivers ovef all these years refuse to write up their trucks because the boss threatens to fire them?
More like the boss took care of them for not makin waves.
Ron Wood says
“The maximum fine for knowingly falsifying DVIRs just once is over ten times that amount: $12,695.” So why have laws ? Only the poor hard worker on the bottom has to obey the laws…those with money don’t. Cops,judges,lawmakers. And lawyers don’t even obey the laws either !
JAC says
This sounds like they snitched on someone and got a sweet deal.
cyrus curenton says
I had a similar experience with Western Express and Sout East Carriers, both from Tennessee. I worked with both companies twice.
Granted, this was a while back (2010-2011). I told both of them that I wasn’t interested in running over my logs, and in the office they were very nice, telling me that they wished more drivers had my attitude.
In practice, it wasn’t so nice.
I planned my trips carefully, looking ahead for sure places to stop, and if I was down to an hour but had a major city ahead of me, I’d stop BEFORE that city so I could be sure of a stopping place instead of running out of hours in rush hour traffic.
I also was careful not to get caught in snow or icy roads where I couldn’t get to a safe place to wait it out.
I tried desperately to explain to my dispatchers what I was doing, but I got to where I was getting 1200 mile weeks on a consistent basis.
When I pointed out drivers who were consistently getting good miles (I saw their pay stubs) I was told that freight was slow.
I eventually got hurt while I was driving for South East Carriers, which ended my career, but I am unrepentant to this day.
I rushed to sweep out a trailer after delivering a load of scrap paper, slipped on a wet floor and hurt my back. I still maintain that if I hadn’t been rushing to try to send in my unloaded report I might not have fell, and I might not walk with a limp and have numbness in my right foot to this day…
I must end by saying that, in all fairness, both of those companies are now running computerized logs and I dare say their drivers are doing exactly as I did back in 2010.
Am I bitter? Sure, in some ways. I miss riding the roads, and I miss the money and California and New York City. Haha! (So I’m insane, shoot me!
I love NYC!)
But I am comfortrd by the fact that, if the company hasn’t found a way to cheat the Qualcomm or whatever satellite link they use, their drivers aren’t running themselves ragged.
HOWEVER, I believe that drivers will be pushed to drive like maniacs in heavy trafffic or bad conditions so they can make that delivery on time, every time. And they will push on through rush hour, jumping from lane to lane, looking to get ahead of the flow, so they can make it to the truckstop before it fills up / before they run out of hours.
THAT is why I had every accident I ever had, and why I believe most accidents occur.
The FMCSA would see an IMMEDIATE drop in accidents if they put a simple timer in every truck that required a 9 hour stop every 24 hours and allowed the driver to use his own judgement for the other 15 hours.
I don’t for one second believe the old Union b/s about drivers being afraid to tell their dispatcher that they’re tired and need to stop!!!
Mad Doktor