Two Miami-Dade County employees failed the knowledge and skills tests required for commercial driver’s licenses, then paid another county employee to get around the requirements, according to the county’s Office of the Inspector General.
Matthew Howard Jr., 35, and Keith Garrod Jones, 36, worked for the Miami-Dade County Water and Sewer Department. The woman they allegedly paid, 34-year-old Vanessa Erika Roberts, worked for the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector’s Office.
Rather than somehow improving their test scores, investigators say the applications were processed as something else entirely.
Roberts allegedly entered Howard and Jones into the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles system as qualifying out-of-state CDL transfers, a process that can allow drivers with valid credentials from another state to avoid testing they would otherwise have to complete in Florida. Investigators say neither man qualified.
The Workaround
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The Miami-Dade County Tax Collector’s Office said the arrests followed a joint investigation involving its office, the Miami-Dade County Office of the Inspector General, the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office, and the Miami-Dade State Attorney’s Office.
According to the Tax Collector’s Office, the Inspector General determined that Howard and Jones failed both required CDL knowledge and skills examinations before paying Roberts to bypass the requirements.
Investigators allege Roberts then falsely processed their applications as qualifying out-of-state CDL transfers.
The distinction matters because Florida recognizes certain valid credentials issued by other states. The Tax Collector’s Office described the process as reciprocity and said it can waive testing that would otherwise be required.
Investigators say Howard and Jones weren’t eligible for it.
Four Counts
Howard and Jones were each charged with official misconduct, a third-degree felony, and unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, a second-degree felony.
Roberts faces two counts of official misconduct and two counts of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior, according to the Tax Collector’s Office.
She is no longer employed there.
Miami-Dade Tax Collector Dariel Fernandez said commercial licensing requirements exist to ensure drivers are qualified to operate large commercial vehicles safely.
“Bypassing those safeguards undermines the licensing process and puts everyone on our roads at risk,” Fernandez said.
The Tax Collector’s Office said it is now reviewing related transactions and records and will take additional administrative or corrective action if warranted. The statement did not say that review had identified additional allegedly improper licenses.
After the Arrests
Miami-Dade Corrections records list a $12,500 bond for the arrest and show that bond was submitted. The jail record lists charges of unlawful compensation or reward for official behavior and official misconduct by a public servant.
The Miami Herald reported Tuesday that Howard, Jones, and Roberts were each being held at the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center on $12,500 bond.
The Miami-Dade Public Defender’s Office represented Jones and declined to comment on his case, according to the Herald. The newspaper reported that attorneys were not yet listed for Howard or Roberts.
The Tax Collector’s Office said the investigation remains active. All three defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.