News

SACRAMENTO  -  Mangal Gill, 58, of San Ramon, pleaded guilty today to two counts of conspiracy to commit bribery and identity fraud, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, Gill owned Central Truck Driving School, which had locations in Fremont, Lathrop, Fresno, and Salinas. Between April 2012 and April 2015, Gill conspired with employees of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and others to fraudulently obtain commercial driver’s licenses (CDL) for Gill’s truck school students and others who did not take or pass the written or the behind-the-wheel driving examinations.

Gill received money from those wishing to obtain a CDL and, in turn, paid money to the DMV employees, who would access the DMV’s database to alter records indicating that the individuals had passed tests when, in fact, they had not passed them or, in some instances, taken any examination at all. As a result, individuals were able to obtain driver’s licenses, including commercial licenses to operate tractor-trailer trucks, without having taken and passed the requisite written or behind-the-wheel driving tests.

SACRAMENTO  -  John Brewer, 48, of San Francisco, was sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Morrison C. England Jr. to 15 months in prison for bid rigging, U.S. Attorney McGregor W. Scott announced. According to court documents, Brewer and his co-defendant, Brent Vinch, were the owners of, and senior executives for, a company called Expert Network Consultants (ENC), which submitted bids to the State of California for various government contracts.

Brewer admitted that from 2008 through early 2012, he conspired with co-defendants Vinch and Loraine Dixon, among others, to rig the state’s competitive bidding process by creating inflated bids for submission by co-conspirators to state contracting agencies in an effort to ensure that Expert Network Consultants received the contracts.

FRESNO  -  A Modesto physician, Sawtantra Kumar Chopra, 71, was arrested today, charged with prescribing opioids to patients outside the usual course of professional practice and not for a legitimate medical purpose. On April 19, 2018, a federal grand jury in Fresno brought a 22-count indictment against Chopra. He was arrested at his home in Modesto.

“Medical professionals who abuse their position of trust and fuel the opioid epidemic for profit will be held responsible,” said Attorney General Xavier Becerra. “Prescription drug abuse is a serious public health crisis that harms families and communities throughout California. Combatting the epidemic and healing our communities takes a team effort. At the California Department of Justice, we will use every tool at our disposal to prosecute bad actors and protect the public.”