4 More Drivers for RTD Fined for Violations

Four RTD bus drivers for whom arrest warrants were issued turned up in court this week and pleaded guilty or no contest to operating buses last fall with invalid licenses, the city attorney’s office said Tuesday.

The four were among a dozen former and current drivers who failed to appear in Municipal Court last Thursday for arraignment on the license charges.

Meanwhile, city attorney’s spokesman Ted Goldstein said four of the remaining eight drivers who have not come to court are continuing to drive RTD buses. He said RTD police are not providing enough help in finding them.

“The deputy city attorneys who are working this case have been in touch with RTD police asking for cooperation in locating these employees so that they can get them into court,” Goldstein said. “The cooperation level has been sketchy.”

RTD spokesman Greg Davy, however, denied that RTD police have been uncooperative. He added that the drivers cannot be prevented from driving if they currently possess valid licenses.

Of the cases settled this week, Fernando Freire pleaded guilty to driving with a suspended license. Lucious Shepherd pleaded no contest to the same offense. Both were placed on two years’ probation and fined $240. The two other drivers, Thelma Williams and Ted Holt, pleaded no contest to driving with an expired license. They were also placed on two years’ probation and fined $150.

A total of 23 drivers were charged Jan. 5 after a three-month investigation of allegations that hundreds of drivers may have been operating buses illegally.