(a) Any officer, agent, or employee of any corporation, and any other person, who knowingly accepts or receives any rebate or drawback from the rates, fares, or charges established or approved by the department for motor carriers of passengers or household goods, or who procures, aids, or abets therein, or who uses or accepts from such motor carrier any free pass or free transportation not authorized or permitted by law or by the orders, rules, or regulations of the department, or who procures, aids, or abets therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.
(b) The possession of goods, wares, or merchandise loaded on a motor vehicle consigned to any person, firm, or corporation, being transported or having been transported over the public highways in this state, without the authority of a permit or certificate for so transporting having been issued by the department under this article, shall be prima-facie evidence that such transportation of such goods, wares, or merchandise was an intentional violation of the law regulating the transportation of persons and property over the public highways in this state.
(c) Any person claiming the benefit of any exception made in this article shall have the burden of proving that he or she falls within the exception.