May 5, 2005


A false sense of security

Driver’s training school deceptions exposed

By Kymberli W. Brady
Times Staff Writer

After seven years of silence, a former Advantage Driving School student has filed a civil lawsuit in the hopes of preventing future victims from experiencing the sexual abuse that happened to her.

The suit stems from a 1998 criminal case, where 26-year-old Advantage Driving School instructor Peter Malae was convicted of statutory rape of a 15-year-old student after his license had been revoked following a previous felony assault conviction. In 2002 another instructor was arrested on sexual harassment charges.

“This is why Advantage Driving School was refused membership in the Driving School Association of California during my three years as president,” stated Kristine Bistline, who currently serves as its legal and legislative chair and owns High Desert Driving School in Lancaster. “It’s the activities of a few schools like these that create a distrust of our industry and it makes me mad, damn mad because not all driving schools behave in this way.”

In addition to seeking personal injury and punitive damages, the victim hopes to set a precedent when the case goes to trial June 6 by securing a judgment under the Unfair Competition Law. If successful, the ruling would stop the deceptive advertising she says creates an environment where future molestations could occur.

“Their ad still says they hire the most professional instructors—and I believed it,” said the victim’s father. “I thought I failed to protect my daughter. Now, we need legislation to close all the loopholes. We need accountability from our government to do a better job monitoring the driving schools. More importantly, we need to hold responsible those with whom we entrust the security of our loved ones.”

Advantage Driving School owners Ruth and Randy Zimmer face allegations of ignoring student reports of sexual assault and harassment, hiring unlicensed instructors, knowingly employing instructors with violent criminal records, and operating the school without a valid license—a record that could very well make the Almaden school the poster child for major reform.

Flanked by two attorneys, Zimmer was not allowed to discuss the case, one that accuses him of allowing Malae to continue instructing months after five Pioneer High School students filed sexual harassment claims with then Principal Ardith Heinrich, and nearly a year after both his instructor’s and driver’s licenses had been revoked following a 90-day jail sentence for assault.

Heinrich notified Zimmer of the complaints, which included harsh words from Malae about his former girlfriend who was employed at Pioneer High School. After requests to suspend Malae while investigating the claims went unanswered, she allegedly filed a report with the San Jose Unified School District [SJUSD] and Child Protective Services [CPS].

The report remains a mystery, as SJUSD officials cannot recall discussing one and CPS refused to corroborate whether one had ever been filed.

“If it was filed, it was never transmitted to me and I’ve never been contacted by CPS,” Zimmer said. “In this case, I could only talk to Pete because Heinrich refused to give me the names of the girls so we could talk to them.”

“She was 15 and the guy was 25, with a violent record and no driver’s license,” argues her mother. “The driving school had been warned about him, yet did nothing. As parents, we have to trust that these people have been checked out by the school before we place our children in the car with, basically, strangers.”

“We couldn’t follow up on a complaint when they chose to remain anonymous,” Zimmer adds. “If someone is unhappy with my school, they’d come to me. If I’m upset with my auto mechanic, I don’t call someone else.”

A troubled past
Since 1998, Malae hasn’t been the only thorn in Zimmer’s side. Three more instructors slipped under the DMV radar, including Rene Michaelsen Hall, who was issued a provisional license in June 1998, despite petty theft and possession convictions listed on her application.

More than two months later, the DMV admitted they issued the license in error.

In April 2002, Zimmer rehired former instructor Valentino “Tony” Gomez, despite allegations that he sexually harassed a student in 1997.

According to DMV spokesperson Steve Haskins, Gomez was only assigned an “instructor’s number” because of a felony conviction for possession. The completed background check released in July asked for the surrender of his license, again citing the conviction as cause. During that three-month window, Gomez was arrested for molesting another Advantage student.

Zimmer was not allowed to comment on Gomez’s documentation, citing relevance to pending litigation.

One month later, Sabrina Sally Garcia was issued a provisional license and joined the Advantage team, but it took the DMV nearly four months to discover she had failed to list false “personation” and theft of personal property convictions on her application.

In 2000, the DMV filed its only administrative actions against Zimmer and Advantage Driving School for employing John Seul, whose license had been expired for more than a year. Zimmer was ordered to pay $3,944 in fines and put on probation for three years.

“Advantage has not had any reported violations in the past five years,” adds Haskins.

The cream of the crop
In an age where criminal background checks have become customary, especially when working with minors, questions have been raised as to the effectiveness of the screening process, especially when driving school owners rely solely on DMV and Department of Justice [DOJ] watchdogs to weed out the bad sheep while they push to keep up with student demand.

There’s even a margin of error on the application form, which, according to Ruth Zimmer, could have easily be amended after she signed it.

“When we sign that form, we’re not attesting to anything they’ve written,” Randy Zimmer explains. “We’re just saying that if they get a license, we’ll hire them. The applicant knows if they tell us they have a felony conviction, they won’t get hired.”

Malae’s isn’t the only sexual abuse case in the Bay Area going to trial next month.

The DMV even missed one in its own camp a few months ago. According to the San Mateo Daily Journal, Redwood City DMV driving instructor Calvin Cat, 37, of San Jose faces 29 counts of lewd acts and sexual battery for fondling 14 women from July through October 2004. He had been administering driving tests for less than six months when the first seven victims came forward. Seven more have since been added.

Although the first complaint hit DMV officials on Sept. 23, Cat was allowed to continue with unsupervised behind-the-wheel exams until Oct. 27, when he was placed on administrative leave following another claim. He was eventually fired on Nov. 19, following an internal investigation.

In addition to damages, the suit is seeking mandatory sexual harassment seminars for DMV employees and the option of allowing adult chaperones to ride along. The state attorney general is expected to represent the DMV.
“You just don’t know who to trust these days,” Zimmer adds. “They could be anywhere—church volunteers, youth group leaders, Little League coaches.”

Accountability
Ultimately, the decision to deny convicted felons a license lies with the DMV, but parent’s feel the responsibility of placing a qualified and professional instructor behind the wheel with a shirt bearing the school logo should come from the front office.

“It is important to understand that listing a criminal conviction will not necessarily stop a temporary license from being issued,” explains Haskins. “If an application or the fingerprint check reveals a criminal history, it is reviewed a second time and refused if appropriate under the regulatory guidelines published in the Code of Regulations.”

For consumers willing to do their own homework, the DMV Web site offers the ability to access historical information on a driving school’s violation history and current status. However, it falls short of providing the big picture by posting the disclaimer, “prior administrative actions imposed on schools are only posted for a year.”

Even then, the credibility of the information could be dicey.

Although information released by the DMV states that Advantage Driving School has been violation-free for five years, delays in posting current statistics on the DMV Web site last year resulted in the listing of Advantage and two other driving schools as expired and under suspension. Zimmer says it often leaves driving school owners frustrated.

According to Haskins, processing errors and backlogs delayed the completion of the renewal process until December. During that time, Advantage appeared on the DMV Website to be operating with an expired license that resulted in suspension. He agrees that it remains a problem, but insists that the department has been current on all business renewals since January 2005.

“Their license expires annually in July,” said Haskins. “It has been renewed on time for the last four years. Any delay may have been the result of workload issues at the DMV.”

“DMV Director Joan Borucki is very interested in providing consumers with as much information about licensees as possible,” explained Haskins. “But it has to be reported to us first. While we do periodic spot checks on licensees, we have to rely on customer feedback for much of our investigative impetus.

It’s a lucky break for schools with skeletons in their closets, but deceiving when any administrative actions over a year old simply fall off the radar, including critical information regarding a school’s historical performance and compliance. Parents who choose to do their homework before signing their children up for classes would expect the data to be more reliable.

If an instructor has been denied a license or had an existing one revoked because of a felony conviction, the DMV will only notify schools by registered mail. There is little follow up.

“Certified mail is the only means of notification used by DMV for this purpose,” Haskins maintains. “It allows proof of mailing and receipt. The other methods do not. Telephone calls are not cost effective and can be difficult to prove in the long run. We do not always have updated fax numbers and e-mails available. These methods would always be secondary to the certified mail process already in place, which again gives us proof that licenses were mailed, proof that they were received, and a way to track any lost packages.”

Zero-tolerance?
In the March 3 Almaden Times cover story article, Zimmer stated that the Malae case resulted in a “strict, written zero-tolerance policy regarding behavior in the cars.”

However, the subject of the article, instructor John Bruick reportedly left his student in a parking lot for more than 29 minutes before returning with a bag of groceries, yet remained employed, even though both he and Zimmer agreed that his actions were inappropriate. He has since been let go.

Additional complaints chide instructors for smoking in the car and running personal errands during lessons.

Although the behavior is nothing new, parents are now raising the bar on driver education procedures in an environment that now places 27 million vehicles on California roads.

According to the California Code of Regulations, when an instructor, owner, or operator signs a completion form, they certify under penalty of perjury that the student completed at least six hours of instruction behind the wheel.

“If they are licensed by us, it should be six hours,” explains Haskins. “You cannot count break time as teaching time—that has to be outside the six hours. Now if it has something to do with the curriculum, I guess it could be counted as teaching time, but if they’re just having a coke, it doesn’t.”

“It’s bad enough they’re depriving these kids of their driving education, they’re also charging for six hours and only giving them five and a half,” insists Allied Driving School owner Barbara Broyles, who doesn’t allow breaks during lessons. “Every time they sign a certificate stating that the student has had six hours behind the wheel, they’re committing fraud.”

The resurgence of the case against Advantage has also prompted the victim’s father to push for future legislation that would enact safety measures, requiring monitoring in instructor cars, and penalizing schools that ignore student complaints.

“We’ve always told our children to respect and obey their teachers,” he says. “I cannot say that anymore. This has been a very sad chapter in our lives and finding out that it is still happening to other kids is inexcusable. I hope this exposes this mess we have in the industry.”

“It is a disgrace that the DMV does not apply the administrative authority it has been given to reconcile such situations of public interest,” states Bistline.

Buyer beware
Of the more than 30 schools in San Jose that offer driver’s training, only four have more than five cars, including Alliance Driving School, Allstars School of Driving, Allied Driving School & Safety Academy, and Economic Driving School.

Choosing a school is a tedious task, fraught with uncertainty. Ultimately, it is up to the parents.

“The final decision whether or not to entrust any family member to the care of someone else is very personal and can only be made by the persons directly responsible,” says Haskins.

With little assurance that driving schools are in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, questions arise as to the quality of education anxious teenagers are receiving in preparation for the coveted drivers license—a right of passage into adulthood and independence on the open road.

Increased audit reports that are starting to surface in other states yield similar findings—making a stronger case for oversight, intervention, or both, especially when DMV officials are hesitant to use limited resources on unlicensed schools and enforce penalties unless complaints have been filed.

A more frightening question remains. With only 20 DMV inspector offices sprinkled throughout the state and more than 30 driver’s training schools in San Jose alone, the scenario bears a striking resemblance to one that finally caught up with the State Board of Barbering and Cosmetology after the November pedicure-related mycobacterial outbreak. It begs the question, is the DMV doing their job or are they simply stretched too thin?

“If any changes are to be made, they’re going to have to be done through the legislative process,” admits Haskins.

With so many apparent holes in the system if a popular driving school, nestled in an affluent bedroom community can be owned and operated by one of its own, yet amass so many skeletons in it’s closet, how many more are out there?

Complaints must be submitted in writing and sent to: Driving School Program Administration Unit, Occupational Licensing, and P.O. BOX 932342L228, SACRAMENTO, CA 94232.

The DMV Web site posts a list of frequently asked questions about driving and traffic school complaints and can be found at http://www.dmv.ca.gov/vehindustry/ol/complaints_faq.htm.