Garden City DMV Supervisor Sentenced to One Year for Exam Fraud

Kanaisha Middleton, a former supervisor at the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles Garden City office, received a one-year jail sentence for running a cheating operation that allowed applicants to skip commercial driver's license exams.

Middleton pleaded guilty on May 4 in Nassau County court to charges of corrupting the government, impairing the integrity of a licensing examination, and official misconduct. Prosecutors stated that the scheme was initially reported by another supervisor at the Garden City branch, who alerted the State Inspector General's Office that employees were processing permit applications for individuals who never took the required tests.

Surveillance footage captured six instances between March 2023 and September 2023 where Jamie Middleton entered the DMV in various disguises, including baggy clothing, face masks, construction jackets, and fake facial hair. She posed as different applicants for commercial driver's licenses and class D permits. Employees Whitfield and Mitchell granted her access to the testing room on each occasion, even though her appearance did not match the identification records of the applicants she represented.

Middleton administered exams to multiple people during the scheme. On one specific day, she tested Town of Hempstead Department of Highway employee Sarduy and Omesh Mohan less than five minutes apart. The two wore identical clothing. Both subsequently visited different DMV locations in Springfield Gardens and Bethpage to submit paperwork and collect interim permits. Neither received a full license, and an investigation determined that Mohan had failed the commercial driver's license road test.

Middleton took nine commercial driver's license exams during the period and passed eight of them on behalf of seven applicants. Six of those applicants were never issued full commercial driver's licenses. She was paid between $1,500 and $3,000 for each test. James Nurse, a Town of Hempstead Sanitation employee, received an interim permit at the Massapequa branch on Aug. 16, 2023, after Middleton allegedly took his exam in Garden City two days prior.

Nurse obtained a full commercial driver's license on Sept. 28, 2023. Investigators found that he used the illegally obtained license to drive recycling trucks for the town's sanitation department. At least six other individuals have already been sentenced in connection with the Garden City scheme.