Bribery case
A Massachusetts trucking company owner has agreed to plead guilty to attempting to bribe a Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration investigator.
Irfan Dushku, owner of Korca Enterprises, Inc., is scheduled to enter his plea in Worcester’s federal district court Nov. 21. According to his Sept. 9 plea agreement, the 43-year-old Worcester man paid a FMCSA safety investigator $1,000 hoping to prevent a negative compliance review last May.
The U.S. attorney for Massachusetts said the proprietor of the six-truck company was charged Sept. 26 in a one-count information with bribery of a public official. FMCSA records list the carrier as having operating authority, but notes a 53-percent vehicle out-of-service rate and 12 inspections during the past 24 months.
In exchange for the plea, the prosecutor agreed to recommend 12 months of probation, with the first six months in home confinement, 24 months of supervised release and a special assessment of $100. –Jill Dunn
Three drivers declared imminent hazards to public safety
Three long-haul drivers — licensed in the states of Michigan, Texas and Illinois, respectively — have been ordered to cease interstate operations after investigations uncovered serious violations of federal safety regulations, FMCSA said. All three investigations proceeded from the drivers’ involvement in crashes, two of which resulted in at least one fatality and the third a serious injury to a police officer.
Michigan-licensed driver Tracy A. Ferrell, said FMCSA, was involved in a crash on U.S. Highway 23 in Pickaway County, Ohio, with a passenger vehicle. The driver of the passenger vehicle was killed, and subsequent investigation determined that Ferrell had repeatedly and excessively falsified his driver on-duty records throughout the five-week period prior to the crash.
