By Thomas Crosby

Washington Star Staff Writer

On Jan. 6, D.C. taxicab driver Stephen A. Sonoiki pleaded guilty to simple assault on a woman after an carlier trial in which he was accused of rape ended in a hung jury.

On July 22, 1974, D.C. taxicab driver Samuel E. Jackson pleaded guilty to two counts of bribing a public official in the district's hackers office.

Yesterday, both men appeared before the hackers' license appeal board asking for the return of their taxicab licenses.

NEITHER was given his license because the crimes to which they pleaded guilty involved the operation of a taxicab.

John Mack, chairman of the appeals board, said there are taxicab drivers on the city's streets right now who have been convicted of felonies and misdemeanors. One source said there may be as many as 350 hackers with criminal convictions currently serving the public.

The law states that a hacker may not be given a license if he has been convicted within the last three years of a violent crime or a narcoticsrelated charge. However, it is possible for a person convicted of a nonviolent felony to be given a hacker's license.

DORIS KEITH, a citizen member of the five-member appeals board, said, "It upsets me. We're supposed to protect the public and we have too many hackers doing what's right, to put criminals on the street driving taxicabs."

One problem under current hackers' regulations is that there are no set penalties for criminal offenses or for offenses that violate taxicab regulations, although a task force appointed by Mayor Walter È. Washington recommended in December that such penalties be established.

The task force recommended a complete reorganization of the Hacker's License Appeals Board and of the licensing procedures for taxicab drivers.

HOWEVER, set penalties and a task force recommendation for hearing examiners to replace the appeals board are being opposed by William J. Wright, a member of the appeals board and chairman of the Taxicab Industry Group.

Wright said he has met several times with Bob Taylor, a special assistant to the mayor, in an attempt to change some of the task force recommendations.

Wright was one of the approximately 20 persons who served on the task force and later wrote a letter to Washington outlining objections to the task force's conclusions.

A spokesman for the mayor said a reorganization of taxicab regulations, licensing and operations has been ordered to "carry out the recommendations of the task force." He added that there has not been "any slowdown or crippling" of the recommendations, despite Wright's objections.

YESTERDAY, Sonoiki's case went before the appeals board because Charles E. Morgan, chief of the Public Vehicles Division (hackers office) of the District Motor Vehicles Division, had denied Sonoiki's request for renewal of his hacker's license.

Morgan routinely denies such requests when anyone is convicted of a crime, as not being in the interest of the "health, safety and welfare of the citizens of the District of Columbia."

A young woman who got into Sonoiki's cab last April 15 at Union Station testified that she rode around with Sonoiki for approximately two hours, that he picked up

a bottle of liquor, and when she went to a hotel room, Sonoiki asked her if he could come in and have a "social drink.”

ONCE INSIDE the hotel room, she said, Sonoiki discussed sickle cell anemia, which had claimed the life of her brother a year earlier. After about an hour, she asked him to leave and he refused, forcibly raping her, she testified.

Sonoiki, of 8115 14th Ave., Langley Park, Md., said she invited him into the room and that she made sexual overtures to him.

Sonoiki, who came to the United States from Nigeria in 1969, was tried on a charge of rape in D.C. Superior Court, resulting in a hung jury. He later pleaded guilty to simple assault in the case and on Feb. 10 was given two years' probation.

The appeals board voted 3 to 1 against returning his hacker's license. The only affirmative vote came from Myer Pumps, one of two attorneys who serves on the hackers appeals board.

THE OTHER case, involving Jackson, 39, of 1418 Kearney St. NE, was continued to an unspecified date when all five members of the board could be present. Fred Mathews, a taxicab industry representative who serves on the board, was absent yesterday.

Jackson was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 for bribing officials in the Public Vehicles Division to tell him which tests were going to be administered to persons seeking a taxi license. With this information, Jackson was able to provide the answers in

advance to dozens of persons who might otherwise have failed the test.

Jackson has told the board he realizes he made a mistake and said he is financially dependent on the money he gets operating a taxicab.

Wright had asked Jackson to appear yesterday with evidence of his financial dependence. In the past, he has voted in favor of issuing a license renewal to taxicab drivers convicted of criminal offenses, as have other members of the board.

MORGAN SAID that currently no notification is given when a taxicab driver is convicted of a crime unless the taxicab is involved. However, the local police record is checked for potential offenses whenever a license renewal is sought.

Whenever the board votes to deny a renewal application, the hacker is barred from applying for a license for at least six months, unless the board sets a longer time period. In Sonoiki's case, he can reapply for a hacker's license in six months.

There are approximately 10,000 licensed hackers in the District and the penalties for an offense may vary greatly. For example, if a police officer sees a taxicab driver refusing to transport a passenger, he can issue a ticket and the driver can forfeit $10 collateral if he does not want to protest the charge.

However, if a citizen files a complaint for the same offense and appears before the hackers appeal board, the driver can face a 60-to90-day suspension if the complaint is found valid.

The Washington Star B-3

By Thomas Crosby

Washington Star Staff Writer

Samuel E. Jackson, who used his D. C. taxicab license to gain continued entry to the D. C. Public Vehicles Division and bribed a clerk to give him answers to taxi license exams, has been told he can again drive a D. C. taxicab.

Jackson, 39, was told by the D. C. Hackers' License Appeal Board Tuesday that he would get his license back 30 days after he was sent a formal notification of the board's decision.

Jackson, of the 1400 block of Kearney Street, NE, pleaded guilty July 22, 1974 to two counts of bribing a public official in the Public Vehicles Division, also known as the hackers office.

JACKSON WAS a frequent visitor to the hackers office, ostensibly to ask questions about hackers regulations, but it later turned out that he was actually finding out which tests were going to be administered to persons seeking a taxi license. Armed with this information, Jackson was able to provide answers in advance to dozens of applicants who might otherwise have failed the test.

Jackson was given two years' probation and fined $1,000 after pleading guilty to bribery, a felony.

William J. Wright, a member of the appeals board and chairman of the Taxicab Industry Group, said he voted to give Jackson back his license because he was "a good risk" to the riding public and without a job as a taxicab driver, Jackson would be a "good candidate for welfare."

The vote to give Jackson back his license was 4-2. It was the first time that six members had sat on a case and John Mack, chairman of the appeals board, who was absent during Tuesday's ses sion, said it may have been illegally constituted because the appeals board is supposed to have only five members.

There are 24 people eligible to serve on the Hackers' Appeals Board. Only five

can sit at a time and the members are constantly rotated by Mack, who makes the appointments.

HIS SECRETARY said she may have inadvertently asked six members to sit instead of five, in which case Mack said the Jackson case may have to be heard again. Jackson could not be reached for comment.

One of those who voted against giving Jackson back his license was William Brooks, who represents the D. C. Citizens Traffic Board. Brooks said he felt Jackson had no right to abuse the taxicab industry and then turn around and profit by it by having his privilege to drive reinstated.

He said Jackson, who has two children and is buying a house, could seek other types of employment and that "it is not right to put him back on the street as a driver."

Ever since Jackson's license was suspended after he was charged with bribery, he has been operating a taxicab school for Coastline Cab and driving the company's taxicabs to the motor vehicle inspection area.

District law permits people convicted of non-violent felonies and misdemeanors to drive taxicabs. However, a task force appointed by Mayor Walter E. Washington has recommended that set penalties be prescribed for criminal of tenses and violations of taxicab regula

tions.

DOUGLAS Schneider, who headed that task force, said the powers of the D. C. Hackers' License Appeals Board are in the process of being transferred to the D. C. Public Service Commission, where hearing examiners will decide whether licenses should be reissued or suspensions given for violations.

Schneider said the PSC probably would develop guidelines to make sure that anyone convicted of a felony in connection with taxicab operations would be barred from operating a cab for a certain length of time.