A co-owner of two diesel truck service and sales companies in Ridgefield and Woodland pleaded guilty to tampering with vehicles for financial gain in U.S. district court last week.
Sean Coiteux, co-owner of Racing Performance Maintenance Northwest of Ridgefield and RPM Motors and Sales NW in Woodland, violated the Clean Air Act by directing employees to delete pollution-monitoring software and remove pollution-control devices for financial gain, according to U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman in a Department of Justice (DOJ) news release.
Coiteux, who owns the businesses with his wife, Tracy, pleaded guilty to tampering with pollution controls on Monday, March 18, in the U.S. District Court in Tacoma, according to the news release.
Coiteux admitted to directing his employees to tamper with federally-required pollution control hardware on hundreds of diesel trucks and with the pollution-monitoring systems, the DOJ stated.
Coiteux also pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act. Previously, an RPM Motors and Sales associate pleaded guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act. Coiteux is expected to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle on June 24, 2024.
In the plea agreement, Coiteux admitted that, between January 2018 and January 2021, he directed employees to delete pollution-control software and devices on diesel trucks he sold or serviced. Coiteux’s companies charged between $1,000 and $2,000 for this work. Coiteux’s companies made these changes to approximately 375 diesel trucks over three years, and received $538,477 in fees, the DOJ stated.
“By removing required pollution-control devices, the defendants caused their customers’ diesel trucks to spew pollutants into the air at a rate of up to 1,200 times the pollution caused by compliant trucks,” Gorman said in the release. “This conduct increased toxins in our environment that are linked to cancer, as well as pulmonary, neurological, cardiovascular and immune system damage. The pollution causes particular harm to disadvantaged communities who live near freeways and other high traffic areas.”
According to case records, Coiteux directed his employees to modify legally required software that ensures the vehicles’ emissions remain within legal limits. RPM Motors and Sales staff occasionally offered — as part of the sale of a truck — to remove the emissions-control system after a customer purchased a truck. Email and other electronic records documented the purchase of equipment and software kits to remove the pollution control and reprogram the monitoring systems, according to the release. These modifications, which are known as “tunes” and “deletes,” are marketed to truck owners as improving vehicle power and performance, the DOJ stated.
His wife, Tracy, still faces charges in the case and is slated for trial on May 20.
In September 2022, service manager Nick Akerill pleaded guilty in Clark County Superior Court to a motor vehicle emission control systems violation and was sentenced to serve on a work crew for 30 days.
Each violation of the federal Clean Air Act is punishable by up to two years in prison and a $250,000 fine. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend Coiteux serve no more than six months in prison. Settle is not bound by the recommendation and can impose any sentence allowed by law, stated the DOJ.
The case is being investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division. Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson and Cindy Chang, along with Environmental Protection Agency Special Assistant United States Attorney Karla Gebel Perrin, are prosecuting the case.
