Guilty Plea for Diesel Emissions Tampering in WA State

[JLandry]

Posted today by the Attorney General of WA State:

The manager of RPM Northwest, a Clark County repair shop, will pay $10K and serve 240 hours community service after pleading guilty to violating Washington's Clean Air Act. He admitted to selling a service to remove emissions controls on diesel trucks.

Read the Affidavit of Probable Cause HERE.

 

[Regcabguy]

He got off easy with the fine. 240 hrs of community service will be miserable.

 

[Topzide]

I think I'd take community service over jail time though!

 

[Alan Reagan]

Yeah. He got off real light. Surprised the feds didn’t get involved with that to make an example out of the guy.

https://www.northeastdiesel.org/tampering.html

Penalties are near the bottom. Selling devices that defeat emissions is a $5,000 fine per device sold. Dealer modifications to emission components is $50,000 per vehicle modified. Then there’s jail time which the feds are now actively seeking. Not sure if dealers are just the sellers of the modification units or an actual vehicle dealer. I would tend to think a “dealer” is any business making the modifications.

 

[Timd32]

Yeah. He got off real light. Surprised the feds didn’t get involved with that to make an example out of the guy.

https://www.northeastdiesel.org/tampering.html

Penalties are near the bottom. Selling devices that defeat emissions is a $5,000 fine per device sold. Dealer modifications to emission components is $50,000 per vehicle modified. Then there’s jail time which the feds are now actively seeking. Not sure if dealers are just the sellers of the modification units or an actual vehicle dealer. I would tend to think a “dealer” is any business making the modifications.

I know nothing about this but the way I read that link, the state tacked this on after the Federal case. Looks like there was a Federal deal that started in May and then this state case in Sept.

They read like separate deals could be the same, but either way yeah no fun for sure with all this for anyone involved. Hopefully that's all they have to deal with and move on.

 

[Alan Reagan]

Didn’t one of the reality TV show teams get caught doing the mods? One of the early fines I had seen was substantial ($ 1Mil). I’ve been checked here in central Georgia for off road fuel (I don’t) so I imagine that at some point I will be stopped for an emissions modification check (I’m legal). If I was blowing a lot of black smoke, I might be a little nervous at this point.

 

[Topzide]

Diesel Brothers out of Utah was the show. Second season had a warning about emissions. Biggest thing was they has truck giveaways that weren't street legal. Had thoughts early on about a delete, glad it was a short thought! They've been cracking down around here, especially if you "Roll Coal".

 

[Alan Reagan]

This is the one I was thinking of for the million dollar settlement.
https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/xtreme-diesel-performance-llc-clean-air-act-settlement

Thanks for the clarification on Diesel Brothers, Topzide.