I wonder if this type of end round is responsible for all the “coal rolling” trucks on the mainland?
Market Watch headline: ‘Polluting the air we breathe’: Mechanic sentenced for selling thousands of devices that allowed trucks to bypass emissions controls
Last Updated: July 2, 2022 at 8:10 a.m. ET
First Published: June 27, 2022 at 1:38 p.m. ET
Sub-headline: Matthew Geouge raked in $10 million for selling the devices which made trucks produce hundreds of times more pollution, prosecutors said
A North Carolina truck mechanic was sentenced to a year in prison for selling thousands of devices that allowed truck owners to bypass emissions-control systems and produce hundreds of times more pollution than is legally allowed.
Matthew Sidney Geouge, 35, of Hendersonville, N.C., pleaded guilty last year to violating the Clean Air Act and tax evasion. In addition to the prison term, Geouge was also ordered to pay $1.3 million in fines to the EPA, and $1.2 million in back taxes and penalties.
Federal prosecutors say that between 2008 and 2017, Geouge sold around 14,000 kits known as “tuners” or “defeat devices” that helped shut off the emissions systems on mostly diesel-powered pickup trucks.