You've seen these trailers and their lighted signs on Massachusetts highway construction sites. The company that owns them was paid millions in taxpayer dollars for their work. But our investigation found while the company was benefiting from your money, it was failing to pay the state big bucks it owed until we blew the whistle.
Look at this license plate — it's illegal. This one's illegal too and this one.
Because instead of paying Massachusetts' required registration fees to get a state license plate, the company was using plates from Texas. When we showed the state's registrar of motor vehicles, she confirmed that's against the law.
Rachel Kaprielian, Massachusetts Registrar "The law is clear, if it's in Massachusetts for more than 30 days, it should be registered in Massachusetts."
But we found for months, while the company was under contract with the Massachusetts Department of Transportation, it used equipment registered in Texas. In April, in May, in June, in July and in August — much longer than 30 days.
Rachel Kaprielian, Massachusetts Registrar "The company skirted the contract, skirted the law and did not register its vehicles."
The company that owns the trailers is RoadSafe, a corporation with headquarters in Illinois but with local offices here in Avon, Mass. Documents we obtained prove it's got multi-million dollar contracts to provide those traffic control signs and markers for state construction projects.
Hank Phillippi Ryan, 7NEWS"Taxpayer dollars are going to pay this company that's operating illegally."
Rachel Kaprielian, Massachusetts Registrar "That is correct."
Why were the trailers improperly registered? Why was RoadSafe taking taxpayers money but not paying the state what it should? Company officials would only say, "We have no comment."
Why did the Massachusetts Highway Department do nothing? They also wouldn't go on camera. They did send an e-mail saying, "We were disappointed to learn that RoadSafe had not registered its vehicles in Massachusetts, as the company's contracts with the highway division require."
Here's another big question: With these trailers in plain sight on state highway projects, why were we were the ones who blew the whistle on this massive violation of the rules?
Hank Phillippi Ryan, 7NEWS"Law enforcement must have seen this. The state highway department must have seen this. How did they get away with this?"
Rachel Kaprielian, Massachusetts Registrar "I can't speak to what anyone did or didn't see."
After our investigation, the registry cracked down on the company, and turns out, there was a big time problem and a big bucks recovery. The company has now agreed to register 233 trailers, and as a result, pay the state $22,000.
And that's not the only way the registry is cracking down. We have learned they will now send a notice to all state law enforcement agencies, reminding them to watch for improperly registered vehicles and make sure companies on state jobs are obeying the state laws.
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