The former Mass State Police sergeant who was federally convicted in the Commercial Driver’s License bribery scheme takes home more than $100,000 a year from his pension, according to state records.
So will 59-year-old Stoughton man Gary Cederquist lose his state pension now that he has been found guilty by a federal jury? The ex-statie has to be sentenced by the federal judge before the Massachusetts State Retirement Board considers stripping him of his pension.
Cederquist last week was convicted in connection with a conspiracy to falsify records and give passing scores to certain Commercial Driver’s License applicants, including people who failed or did not take the CDL skills test, in exchange for bribes.
A jury found him guilty of 48 counts, while the jury found him not guilty on nine counts.
He was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to commit extortion, one count of extortion, six counts of honest services mail fraud, three counts of conspiracy to falsify records, 19 counts of falsification of records, and 17 counts of false statements.
Following Cederquist’s conviction, the Herald reached out to the Massachusetts State Retirement Board to learn about his pension, and what will happen to it.
Cederquist — whose top base pay as a sergeant was close to $150,000 — currently has an annual pension of $106,199. His gross pay per month is $8,849.92.
While his top base pay was $149,314 in 2022, he took home more than $330,000 that year. He made more than double his base pay due to $79,904 in overtime pay and $102,400 in other pay.
So now what happens to his annual pension of $106,199?
“The person has to be sentenced by the court before the MSRB (retirement board) considers the matter,” a spokesperson for the State Treasurer’s office said in a statement. “Once it is on an agenda, the Board considers what action to take, and more than likely will vote that the matter goes to a hearing officer.
“Then the hearing officer conducts a hearing where evidence is presented and argument as to whether the person’s conduct has a legal or factual link to their job,” the spokesperson added.
The hearing officer then prepares a recommendation, and presents it to the board.
“Assuming the hearing officer finds that there was a legal and/or factual link, the Board will vote on the whether the member’s pension is forfeited or not,” the spokesperson said. “Typically, the Board votes based on the recommendation of the hearing officer.
“The member is entitled to their total accumulated deductions without interest earned, and depending on when they retired, the Board may be able to recover the amount of retirement benefits that it paid that is in excess of the total accumulated deductions,” the spokesperson added.
If the board votes to forfeit the person’s pension, the member’s payment will be stopped effective the date of the suspension.
Cederquist was in charge of MSP’s CDL Unit, which is responsible for administering CDL skills tests.
Between February 2019 and January 2023, Cederquist arranged for him and his co-conspirators to give passing scores to at least three dozen applicants regardless of whether or not they had actually passed or, in some cases, had even taken the CDL skills test — including in some instances in exchange for bribes.
Cederquist and his co-conspirators used the code word “golden handshake” or “golden” to identify applicants who received special treatment, and were to be given passing scores on their skills tests regardless of performance.
In text message conversations, Cederquist and his co-conspirators described a number of “golden” applicants as performing poorly on their skills tests. However, all of the applicants received passing scores.
Cederquist also conspired with his friend who worked for a water company that employed drivers who needed CDLs, to give passing scores to certain applicants affiliated with the water company.
In exchange for the passing scores, Cederquist accepted bribes of free inventory from the water company, such as cases of bottled Fiji, VOSS and Essentia water, cases of bottled Arizona Iced Tea, coffee and tea products and boxes of Twizzlers and Swedish Fish.
Cederquist accepted a variety of bribes including inventory from the water company valued in the thousands of dollars; a $750 granite post and mailbox; a new driveway valued at over $10,000; and a snowblower valued at nearly $2,000. Cederquist described one such applicant as “horrible,” and “brain dead,” but gave him a passing score anyway in exchange for the snowblower.
He’s expected to be sentenced on July 24.
The charges of conspiracy to falsify records, conspiracy to commit extortion, extortion, honest services mail fraud, and falsification of records can lead to a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, up to three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
