Truck school owner pleads guilty in federal court

A St. Louis truck driving school owner was sentenced to 75 months in prison on multiple charges of bribery and fraud on Monday for a scheme involving a local license examiner, according to a release by U.S. District Attorney Catherine Hanaway. Mustafa Redzic, 40, owner of Bonsa Truck Driving School, was found guilty in April of this year in a scheme that involved Troy Parr, 52, of Dexter, Mo. Parr was a driver's license examiner in Sikeston, Mo., at the time of indictment in June 2007.

According to Hanaway, Redzic had his students take the test for their commercial drivers licenses in Sikeston with Parr administering the test. The test was a "short" version that did not meet the required standards mandated by Missouri law.

Parr pleaded guilty to fraud in December 2007. He was sentenced to one year and one day by U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber on April 28, 2008 in connection with the case. Parr administered the commercial driver's license tests for students of the Bonsa Truck Driving School at the Sikeston facility.

The U.S. Court in Cape Girardeau found that Redzic paid Parr for expenses to St. Louis where Parr would consult with Redzic on educating drivers. Parr was paid hundreds of dollars for these consultations and at one time was paid as much as $2,500 for a consultation, Hanaway said in a press release. Parr was also promised a lucrative job in Redzic's organization, Hanaway said. As a result, 600 licenses were issued to students of Redzic's school between January 2004, and April 2005. Bonsa Truck Driving School received $1.8 million in fees from clients of the school during that time.

Redzic was convicted of one felony count of bribery, one felony count of conspiring to commit bribery and one felony count each for wire and mail fraud. The bribery conviction carried a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The conspiracy charge was punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine and the mail and wire fraud carried a sentence of up to 20 years and a $250,000 fine. Redzic was ordered to serve three years supervised release.

The case was investigated by the FBI, the U.S. Marshall's office, the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General, the Missouri Department of Revenue and the Missouri State Highway Patrol.