By AP/KWMU
St. Louis, MO – The owner of a St. Louis driving school pleaded not guilty on Monday to charges he bribed a state examiner so students could get licenses without being tested.
An indictment accuses Adil Alagic, 49, of paying thousands of dollars to examiner Daniel Sumner from 1999 to 2002. Each payment was between $200 and $600.
Sumner is accused of preparing false paperwork to make it appear that qualifications were met. He was not charged in the case, but officials did not explain why.
The indictment says a driver listed only as "A.R." got a commercial drivers license in April 2002 without taking any tests or demonstrating any skill.
Alagic said he drove trucks for his own company. He is currently shown as the registered agent and organizer of ASM Trans LLC. His lawyer would not comment.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Tom Albus asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Frederick R. Buckles to keep Adil Alagic in jail until his trial, citing questions about his financial activities, travel abroad and whether he made misleading statements about his ability to speak English.
Buckles has not yet made a decision about keeping Alagic in jail.
Asked if improperly licensed drivers from the school had been linked to any crashes, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway would only say that there was nothing of that nature alleged in Alagic's indictment.
In Illinois, the unrelated sale of a commercial license to an unqualified trucker involved in a 1994 crash that killed six children played a role in the downfall of former Gov. George Ryan, who has been sentenced to prison in an influence peddling case.
In Springfield, Mo., last month, a federal grand jury in November indicted the operators of two trucking schools who allegedly conspired to put unqualified Somalian and Bosnian immigrants on the nation's highways by helping them fraudulently obtain commercial driver's licenses.
That indictment named 15 defendants who face charges including conspiracy and mail fraud, making a false writing and causing a false identification document to be produced.
Authorities do not believe terrorism was involved, U.S. Attorney Bradley J. Schlozman said, but public safety was at risk because some of the immigrants more than 100 of whom also earned endorsements to transport hazardous material never proved even rudimentary big rig driving skills.