Diesel repair shops penalized for consulting with Colorado business to disable heavy truck emissions
DENVER (CBS4) -- Two out-of-state diesel repair facilities were sentenced this month, and a third will be next month, for conspiring with a Colorado shop to illegally alter the emission controls on more than 100 heavy duty trucks and semis, tampering which federal prosecutors allege resulted in "tons" of pollutants being released into the air.
Though only identified as "E.D." by the U.S. Attorney's Office in the District of Colorado (USACO) in its press releases and case documents, CBS4 has learned the Colorado business is Elite Diesel of Windsor. CBS4 visited the business's location in late April and found the premises vacated.
Elite Diesel still maintains a location in Cheyenne. The company has not responded to requests for comment.
Federal prosecutors alleged the Colorado-based "E.D." company was paid by Endrizzi Diesel in Missouri, Pro Diesel in Iowa, and McDermid Sales & Service, Inc., in Wisconsin for guidance in the removal of emission controls from January 2017 through December 2020. Specifically, "E.D." employees used an online program called "Team Viewer" to run software programs that would reprogram or "tune" the monitoring functions of the vehicles' on-board diagnostics systems, according to case documents.
"E.D." received more than $149,000 from Endrizzi Diesel for work on more than 60 Class 8 heavy duty trucks and more than $76,000 from Pro Diesel for the similar work on 34 trucks, according to the USACO's most recent press release about the cases.
Both businesses were sentenced to three-year terms of probation which, the USACO stated, include stringent monitoring, compliance, and reporting requirements "to ensure that neither shop engages in further emissions tampering."
Additionally, Endrizzi Diesel was ordered to pay $110,000 to the Walnut Grove, Missouri school district to help purchase cleaner school buses, as well as a fine of $55,000 to the general court fund, the USACO stated in its press release.
Pro Diesel, meanwhile, was ordered to pay $77,500 to the Des Moines Area Community College to develop a curriculum to teach diesel mechanic students about emission controls on diesel engines, how to detect tampering, how to restore tampered vehicles, and the legal ramifications of tampering violations. Pro Diesel was also ordered to pay a fine of $38,750 to the general court fund.
Pro Diesel was sentenced June 14. Endrizzi Diesel was sentenced Wednesday.
McDermid Sales & Service, Inc. will be sentenced by Judge Philip A. Brimmer on August 5. That business's representatives admitted to paying company "E.D." more than $71,000 for guidance on disabling the emissions monitoring systems on 32 heavy duty trucks.
"By deleting the emission controls from heavy duty Class 8 vehicles and overriding the on-board diagnostics system that monitors these controls, the defendants are responsible for the release of tons of excess pollutants," stated Lance Ehrig, Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Enforcement Program, West-Central Region, in the USACO press release. "This illegal practice and the excess pollutants emitted have serious consequences for air quality and public health."
To date, no case has been brought specifically against Elite Diesel. As in April when the office first announced the cases against the out-of-state companies, a spokesperson for the USACO told CBS4 on Thursday that the office had no comment about any future prosecution or potential penalties against Elite Diesel.
