R.I. trucking companies, owners indicted for safety inspection report falsification scheme

JOHNSTON – Two Rhode Island trucking companies and their owners were indicted by a federal grand jury for a scheme to falsify safety inspection reports for trucks in need of repair that were hauling tons of scrap metal on roadways in Rhode Island and Massachusetts, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.

Leslie Cucino and Robert Cucino Jr. as well as their companies CDE Corp. and Winsor Hill Hauling and Recycling Corp., both companies located in Johnston, were each indicted on one count of conspiracy and six counts of false statements.

According to the indictment, the DOJ alleges the companies and their owners directed employees under threat, including termination, to falsify driver-vehicle inspection reports and not report safety defects or deficiencies discovered by or reported by the driver. The DVIRs include information on a truck’s service brakes, parking brake, steering mechanism, lighting devices, reflectors, tires, horn, windshield wipers, rear vision mirrors, coupling devices, wheels and rims, and emergency equipment.

The indictment alleges the criminal behavior began in 2009 and continued to the present.

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The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Richard W. Rose.