WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Truck Driving School Run By Former Decker Officials Changes Name, Keeps Operating

Truck Driving School Run By Former Decker Officials Changes Name, Keeps Operating

By Eric Flack 

(LOUISVILLE) -- Last week we told you about a truck driving school, owned by two Louisville brothers, that is under investigation for handing out commercial licenses without proper testing. Now, WAVE 3 has learned the problems for Gerald and Jeffrey Woodcox run even deeper: from the defunct Decker College to a racketeering lawsuit in federal court. WAVE 3 Investigator Eric Flack has more.

When Gerald Woodcox was reached for comment at his Lake Forest home, there was plenty to ask him about: failed businesses, racketeering allegations and federal investigations.

But Woodcox had little to say.

"I have no comment," he told WAVE 3 Investigator Eric Flack.

But it appears Gerald and his brother Jeff have plenty to answer for.

As WAVE 3 reported last week, the Woodcox brothers own CDTA, a testing center in Missouri where investigators say up to 4,000 truck drivers got their commercial drivers licenses without proper testing.

Now WAVE 3 has learned the problems don't end there.

The Woodcox brothers are named in a $117 million federal racketeering lawsuit. An insurance company, Royal Indemnity, is trying to recoup money from one of the Woodcox's old businesses: Franklin Career Services.

It shut down in financial crisis in 2002, about the same time the brother's bought Decker College in Louisville.

Three years later, Decker was raided by FBI agents conducting a fraud investigation. Investigators are still looking into a host of allegations, including whether Decker employees falsified student records and accusations that teachers helped students cheat.

It was allegedly an effort to keep enrollment up and federal funding strong.

Brian Vandenburg was an electrical instructor at Decker in 2004. He says he was fired for warning students things weren't right.

Decker College was "looking out for the bottom line," Vandenburg said.

When asked if that was all they cared about, Vandenburg said, "In my view, yeah."

Decker collapsed into bankruptcy a month after the federal raid, leaving 3,700 students burdened with debts, some as much as 30 thousand dollars.

No charges have been filed, yet.

Flack asked Woodcox if he considered himself to be an honest person.

"I really don't have any comment," Woodcox told him. "There are way too many things going on in court for me to converse about this right now."

WAVE 3 has been unable to locate Jeffrey Woodcox.

The Woodcox's truck driver testing center in Missouri is still operating, under a new name.

Decker College has also reopened under a new name, although the Woodcox brothers are not involved.

• Former Decker Officials Operating Trade School

Online Reporter: Eric Flack

Online Producer: Clay McNeill