The probe has now grown to include DMV offices the length of California and dates back to 2011. It involves multiple payoffs of thousands of dollars to DMV workers to alter computer records, court records say.
The undercover sting operation that led to bribery charges against two California Department of Motor Vehicles employees this week is part of a major, six-year probe by the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and other federal agencies that so far has resulted in charges against eight individuals and the revocation of hundreds of commercial truck driver’s licenses around the state, court records show.
The latest employees to be charged were named in documents unsealed Thursday in federal court in Sacramento. The government alleges they took bribes from Southern California truck-driving school owners to alter DMV records to show applicants had passed their written and driving tests to allow them to obtain licenses to drive tractor trailers and buses.
Those defendants were identified as Lisa Terraciano, 51, who worked in a DMV office in Winnetka, and Kari Scattaglia, 38, a DMV manager who worked in offices in Granada Hills and Arleta.
Online records indicate she is the daughter of Vito F. Scattaglia, a deputy chief of investigations and enforcement for the DMV in Southern California. Kari Scattaglia was paid $52,500 last year, according to The Bee’s online state salary database.
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