PORTLAND (WGME) — A man from Sanford is out on bail after being accused of running a fraudulent commercial driving license school out of York County.
According to court documents, several students paid the man thousands of dollars for commercial driving classes, but police say it was a scam, and they never got their licenses.
Paul Rumery of Sanford is facing eight charges, accused of deceiving people who wanted to get their commercial driver’s license.
According to the 15-page affidavit, investigators with the BMV found Rumery was operating an unlicensed driver’s education school for truck drivers.
He was arrested this week.
According to court documents, Rumery claimed he worked for Hannaford, training drivers on how to drive commercial trucks.
A man from Sanford is out on bail after being accused of running a fraudulent commercial driving license school out of York County. (WGME)
But investigators found he was actually teaching people from other companies on the side without a valid driver education license.
Documents show he charged students thousands of dollars less than what a driving school approved by the state would charge.
“I was trying for two years to get a CDL from him, roughly two years,” Leon Jackson, who took multiple classes with Rumery, said.
Jackson says he paid Rumery $10,000 for himself, his son and two other friends to take classes and get their CDL license, but that license never came.
“I had my permit, and I’m like, ‘Well, I got my permit, now I’m not going to sit here and wait a year and lose it,’” Jackson said.
Jackson says Rumery never sent his application to the BMV to be certified.
In order to actually get his license, he paid to go to a second driving school in Brunswick.
“There’s a lot of damage that this has done, and it took a long time for them to finally get to this point,” GoDrivingSchool Owner Ronald Vance said.
Vance was one of many who reported Rumery to the state.
He believes Rumery’s unusually low prices took students away from his legitimate driving school.
A man from Sanford is out on bail after being accused of running a fraudulent commercial driving license school out of York County. (WGME)
“I had to compete with a non-competitive licensed school,” Rumery said. “It is very depressing, very frustrating and makes you maybe not want to run your business anymore.”
The Secretary of State says it’s vital CDL training is conducted through properly licensed providers to protect both public safety and consumers.
The state says Rumery’s summons is still pending, and he is scheduled in court on April 30.
