WA driving appraiser who took bribes in jail



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A former Washington State government driving badessor who had bribed money to move to people he had not tested was in jail for two years.

Gregory Briotti, 56, pocketed an annual salary of more than $ 100,000 when he accepted payments to sign motorcycle and heavy vehicle learner license and driver's license applications. 2014 and 2015.

On one occasion, he forged an applicant's signature using an example that had been provided to him.

After the discovery of the offense, Briotti was the subject of an investigation by the Committee on Corruption and Crime and lost his job in the Department of Transport, which was later named Department of Planning and infrastructure.

The father of two admitted to accepting a payment of $ 100 but initially denied eight other offenses.

He told people that he had accepted bribes not to cooperate with the CCC and, if they had done so, insisted that "no money" or "money". they had been properly tested and that they were not paying money.

Attorney Sarah Jessup told Washington District Court that Briotti had received about $ 2,000 from the nine offenses but would have committed more than that during his five years of service to the department. We did not know how much he had received in all.

"(Your offense) involves the operation of the system and a flagrant breach of trust," Ms. Jessup said.

The defense attorney, John O'Connor, said his client had started bypbading the rules by conducting legitimate tests from his home in Perth, for the benefit of students. boarding frustrated by long delays in metropolitan test centers.

Many offered money to queue, said the lawyer, and Briotti "gave in" after receiving endless calls from plaintiffs.

He eventually stopped worrying about doing badessments and continued to commit offenses because people he saw as members of bikie gangs wanted to use his services and feared that they would harm him. he refused.

"It certainly has not started as it's done," said O. Connor.

Briotti first tried to thwart the CCC's investigation because he feared that his friends from the town of Koorda, located in Wheatbelt, were living before and that he was highly respected as a regional councilor , sports coach, firefighter and school committee member. .

Many had already done so and he had already been punished socially and emotionally, said O. Connor.

Judge Belinda Lonsdale stated that Briotti's complaint was persistent and that he had endangered the public by failing to check candidates' driving skills.

Briotti had previously told the CCC that he had received about $ 50,000 from the offense.

The court heard the department spend more than $ 200,000 to investigate its activities.

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