BROCKTON, Mass. (WWLP) – Two people have pled guilty to charges tied to separate schemes to give driver’s permits and licenses to people who did not actually pass their tests at the Brockton RMV.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, 43-year-old Mia Cox-Johnson of Brockton accepted money as a bribe to give customers passing scores. Cox-Johnson was charged with two counts of extortion under the color of official right and one count of conspiring to commit extortion. Estevao Semedo, 61, of Brockton, was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit honest services mail fraud.

Prosecutors highlighted an incident when Cox-Johnson, the former manager of the RMV service center in Brockton allegedly accepted $1,000 in cash to pass someone taking a learner’s permit test, who had previously failed it six times. The same customers were also allegedly told to request a paper test instead of taking the test on the RMV computer, so Cox-Johnson could score these customers’ tests.

On Oct. 21, 2019, a customer came to the Brockton RMV and took three multiple-choice tests that they needed to pass in order to get a commercial learner’s permit, which is a prerequisite to taking the road test for a CDL. Cox-Johnson allegedly accepted $200 from an individual to score the customer as having passed the tests even if they didn’t actually pass. In fact, the applicant failed one of the tests, but it is alleged that Cox-Johnson scored the applicant that they passed all three tests.

Separately, Semedo, the owner of a driving school, pled guilty to charges related to paying off a road test examiner to pass certain applicants. Transportation officials said around 2,100 drivers were given licenses without taking a road test starting in April of 2018 at the Brockton RMV. It is also said that some of the applicants did not even show up to take the test, and as a result of the fraud, the RMV mailed driver’s licenses to unqualified applicants.