California Trucker Got Commercial License Despite Criminal Record

I published a report on April 9, 2007, about a Florida truck driver, with years of citations, license suspensions, and warrants for unpaid tickets on his record, who allegedly caused a fatal collision while driving his big rig. The report is titled, Who is Responsible for the Nation's Truck Drivers? In the Florida case, the driver was able to get a license in one state, even though his license had been suspended in another state, and even though he had citations on his driving record in the state that issued his current license.

It turns out in Part 2 of Who is Responsible for the Nation's Truck Drivers?, that the driver of the tanker truck causing a crash that resulted in a huge section of the Bay Bridge to collapse, also has a lengthy criminal record, but somehow got through the system and got a valid driver's license. He passed his FBI criminal history check and review from the U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA), but they claim they are only looking for terrorists. According to a spokesperson for the TSA, they are not focused on the kind of background and criminal past that James Mosqueda, 51, had on his record. Industry experts question rules that allow someone with Mosqueda's background, including a 1996 prison term for a heroin conviction, to operate a tanker truck full of more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline. Darryl Tolentino, director of Fleetwatch Systems, Inc. that does background checks for trucking companies, told FOX News that "He is unemployable because of (his) past record. That would be our recommendation right off the bat."