Truck Parts Company To Pay $1 Million For Environmental Offenses: Authorities

SACRAMENTO — A truck parts company will pay $1 million in fines and penalties after pleading guilty to criminal environmental charges this week in a federal court in Sacramento, authorities said.

Sinister Diesel pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act and defraud the U.S., and to violating the act by tampering with the emissions monitoring device of a diesel truck, according to authorities. The company also agreed it will not make, sell or install devices that defeat emissions controls and committed to implementing a compliance program, authorities said Tuesday.

“Sinister Diesel sold products that allowed drivers to strip the emissions controls from their trucks, causing a dramatic increase in the release of pollutants that worsen air quality and harm the quality of life,” U.S. Attorney Phillip Talbert said in a news release.

The company manufactured and sold the parts from 2010 to 2020, and that segment of the business sometimes made up roughly 25 percent of its gross revenue, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. Sinister also advised customers on how to evade state emissions tests, authorities said.

“For close to ten years, Sinister Diesel sold parts designed to override or disable the emissions control systems on trucks,” said Larry Starfield, principal deputy assistant administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, in the news release.

“EPA testing has shown that a vehicle altered with these parts can emit more than 100 times the amount of certain harmful air pollutants, compared to a vehicle with an intact emissions control system.”

The $1 million payment will be split between financial obligations related to a criminal fine and a civil consent decree, according to authorities.

Sentencing in the case is set for November, authorities said, adding the company faces additional fines for each count of up to $500,000 or twice the gross pecuniary gain from the offense.