St. Louis man convicted of bribery, fraud involving Sikeston testing center

A St. Louis truck driving school owner who sent his students to Sikeston, Mo., for testing was convicted in federal court in Cape Girardeau in a bribery and fraud scheme to make the tests easy to pass.

Mustafa Redzic, a Bosnian-born owner of Bosna Truck Driving School, was prosecuted personally by federal prosecutor Catherine Hanaway in federal court in Cape Girardeau. Investigators began looking at the operation in 2004, Hanaway said, as rumors spread through the growing Bosnian community in St. Louis that Redzic could obtain commercial driver's licenses easily and after the Missouri State Highway Patrol began investigating some of the drivers who obtained licenses, Hanaway said.

Redzic was convicted of one count of bribery, one count of conspiracy to commit bribery and one count each of wire and mail fraud. All the charges are felonies, each carrying maximum penalties ranging from five to 20 years and fines of up to $250,000.

In the scheme, Redzic would send license applicants to a testing facility owned by Troy Parr of Sikeston. At the testing facility at 315 Lynual St., the applicants would receive a short test, much less rigorous than Missouri standards require. The typical test administered by Parr would last 30 minutes; a proper examination should take two hours.

Redzic agreed to pay Parr the maximum fee authorized for the tests, and Parr also benefited by being paid as "consultant" to Redzic's training school. About 600 clients moved through the school and Parr's testing facility; students sent by Redzic to Parr had an almost 100 percent rate of passing the test.

Parr pleaded guilty to his role in the conspiracy last December and faces sentencing later this month.

Redzic took in about $1.8 million from the 600 clients; federal prosecutors are working to seize that money.

The trial took three days, Hanaway said, and included video evidence obtained by the highway patrol, wiretap evidence and material from four search warrants. Witnesses included three of the Bosnians who obtained commercial driver's licenses. They testified, through translators, that "one reason they came to this particular school was that it had a reputation for helping people get commercial driver's licenses even if they didn't speak English," Hanaway said.

Commercial drivers are required to have a working knowledge of spoken and written English so they can communicate with law enforcement and understand road signs, Hanaway said.

Assistant Federal prosecutor Tom Albus, who assisted with the prosecution, said knowledge of English was important for a truck driver, according to Hanaway. She said he noted in a closing comment that in the recent floods in the area, a driver unable to read a sign directing traffic around flooded roads could lead to an accident. And if the truck was in an accident, a driver who couldn't speak English couldn't tell law enforcement if he was hauling hazardous materials.

Parr's testing center is out of business, Hanaway said. Redzic continued operating his driving school until last week under a different name. He also continued to operate his freight hauling company.

All the drivers who received licenses through Parr's testing have either been retested or had their licenses revoked, Hanaway said. The operation was shut down in April 2005.

The case had no relationship to the prosecution of Nathan Cooper, a state representative who is serving a 15-month federal prison sentence for immigration fraud after obtaining phony documents for foreign-born truck drivers, Hanaway said.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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