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Affidavit: Trucking school issued licenses to unqualified drivers

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

DENVER – State and federal officials say 27 unqualified drivers who were later responsible for two dozen accidents were given passing grades on a driving test by a Denver trade school.An investigator’s affidavit filed in Denver federal court says Careers World Wide passed 27 ineligible truck drivers who were later responsible “for approximately 199 serious traffic and regulatory violations,” including 26 accidents.School owner Charles Tweedy and education director Tony Garcia declined to comment.No one connected with the school has been charged with any crime, but the school’s testing privileges have been suspended.The allegations emerged amid an investigation by the U.S. attorney’s office, Department of Transportation and Postal Service and the state Department of Motor Vehicles into claims that commercial licenses were issued to unqualified drivers, sometimes for cash.In December, federal prosecutors filed charges against two driver’s license examiners in suburban Northglenn for allegedly selling commercial licenses to an illegal immigrant.Brian Wheeler, a former instructor at Careers World Wide, told The Denver Post in Monday’s editions that the school often awarded passing grades to would-be truck drivers without requiring them to perform some portions of the test.”I think it’s creating a lot of risk to public safety. These vehicles are deadly – 80,000 pounds. You can kill somebody in a heartbeat,” he said.Wheeler said he taught at Careers World Wide in 2003 and 2004 but quit because he saw things “that I did not want to be part of any more.”


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