Here is a recap of some Trucking Industry Convictions for 2014.
$75,000 fine levied against carrier for falsifying logbooks.
A Connecticut based passenger carrier has been fined $75,000 after a federal investigation led by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) found that it routinely encouraged its drivers to falsify logbooks. The falsification was use to allow Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) holders to drive over federally permitted Hours of Service (HOS) “on-duty”time. Dariusz Steborowski who worked as a manager for Wisla Express, based in New Britain, Connecticut, was sentenced to 5 years of probation on January 17,2014. The company’s owner, Elzbieta Szteborowski, along with Dariusz were ordered to divest themselves from ownership in Wisla. In addition, Dariusz is not allowed to work for the carrier while on probation.
FMCSA found in their investigation that the carrier routinely assigned drivers runs they knew would exceed HOS limits. The company also instructed CDL drivers to falsify logbooks to cover up the HOS violations. The carrier also submitted the false logs during the FMCSA investigation.
Trust Fund Fraud Takes Down Broker Bond Company
The Transportation Intermediaries Association, a trade group for brokers based in Alexandria, Virginia, requested an inspection of Oasis Capital. The inspection by the Department of Transportation’s Inspector General focused on Bonnie Warren, the owner of the Fullerton, California bond company.
Warren was indicted by a Los Angeles federal grand jury on Jan. 24, 2014. The charges included: defrauding brokers in a trust fund scheme. Oasis Capital would allegedly accept money from property brokers’ to be used for trust funds and instead the money was misappropriated and used for other purposes.
The FMCSA has suspended her privileges to file trust funds on behalf of brokers and revoked roughly 500 trust funds filed by the California company with FMCSA.
Recipient of imminent hazard out of service creates Chameleon carrier.
Corey Daniels of Georgia was sentenced to a year of probation for conspiring to violate “imminent hazard out-of-service” orders also known as “shutdown” orders which were issued by the FMCSA.
Daniels was sentenced on October 24, 2014, for his involvement with Devasko Lewis in the operation of motor carriers Eagle Transport Corporation and Eagle Trans, based in Georgia. Lewis was doing business as Lewis Trucking Company and was ordered to cease all operations in October 2008 after investigators found “serious violations” during a compliance review. The review was ordered after a fatal crash involving the fleet, in which seven Alabama prison guards died.
After the shutdown order, Lewis formed a new company called DDL Transport. DDL was also issued a shutdown order. In May 2012, Lewis pleaded guilty to violating the orders and was sentenced to 90 days in prison and 12 months of supervised release.
Around the same time, Lewis obtained the DOT numbers for Eagle Transport and Eagle Trans with the help of friends, including Daniels.None of the participants revealed Lewis’ involvement to state and federal regulators. Lewis continued to operate the fleets with Daniel’s help even after reporting to prison.
This investigation was conducted with assistance from FMCSA and the Georgia Department of Public Safety (GDPS).