Saturday, May 21, 2011

Dennis Sieving, driving instructor, accused of passing drivers who failed or didn't take test

By Michael Roberts, Thu., May 19 2011 at 8:57 AM
Categories: Colorado Crimes

Here's a frightening thought: Around 1,500 drivers who didn't pass, or didn't even take, a driving test may have been on Colorado roads for months.

That's the accusation against Dennis Sieving, 53, who's been indicted by a federal grand jury for male fraud and bribery. And those 1,500 allegedly dubious licenses? Revoked.


From May 2010 until February, Sieving, who worked for the American Driving Academy, is said to have given passing grades for the written and driving-skills test to drivers who paid him $50 per exam. According to the indictment, on view below in its entirety, some of the drivers in question couldn't speak English well enough to even read the written test -- hence the involvement of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the investigation.

Sieving proclaimed his innocence last month in a 9News report, claiming in a phone interview that he had paperwork to prove that everyone who received licenses on his watch earned them. But a federal grand jury didn't buy that, and neither did the Department of Motor Vehicles, which informed everyone who'd worked with Sieving that they'd have to start over -- even those who presumably took and passed the tests in question.

Look below to see the original 9News segment, followed by the indictment.

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