SPOKANE, Wash. — The United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington announced on Friday that Pavel Ivanovich Turlak pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally violate the Clean Air Act emissions controls through his Spokane-based trucking companies: PT Express, LLC, Spokane Truck Service, LLC and Pauls Trans, LLC.
Turlak also pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining more than $300,000 in COVID-19 relief funding.
Under the Clean Air Act, diesel trucks are required to maintain systems and components that limit harmful emissions of dangerous pollutants such as diesel particulates. Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to serious health conditions like asthma and respiratory illnesses.
Exposure also can worsen existing heart and lung disease, especially in children and the elderly. Heavy-duty diesel trucks are also required under the Clean Air Act to maintain an onboard diagnostic system that monitors the functionality of the hardware emissions control components.
To ensure that the required emissions control systems are functioning properly, if the system detects that an emissions control component is not working, or has been removed, it will ultimately put the truck into what is known as “limp mode,” which limits the top speed to as low as 5 miles per hour.
Based on the plea agreement accepted by the court and information disclosed during court proceedings, between August 2017 and November 2023, Turlak purchased illegal “delete tune” files from a Florida-based company that were designed to disable and defeat required emissions controls and monitoring systems.
Court documents say Turlak loaded the "delete tune" files into the trucks used in his businesses, as well as trucks of co-conspirators who were customers of Spokane Truck Service, LLC.
In addition to violating the Clean Air Act, Turlak also admitted to fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 Relief funding.
Between March 2020 and August 2021, Turlak falsely and fraudulently applied for and received more than $300,000 in federal funding that was designated to go to eligible small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turlak and his businesses were not eligible to receive this funding due to their ongoing participation in a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act.
As a condition of the plea agreement, Turlak and his companies entered a compliance agreement to ensure that their trucks protect public health and comply with Clean Air Act requirements going forward.
“Mr. Turlak pursued a business of profiting from pollution. By installing emission defeat devices in his own vehicles and the vehicles of others, he sought an illegal competitive advantage and evaded important safeguards designed to protect public health and the environment,” stated U.S. Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref. “Families in Eastern Washington deserve to breathe cleaner air, and I am grateful for our partners on our Environmental Task Force who are committed to protecting our community. Working together we will continue to ensure a healthy, high quality of life and keep our region safe and strong.”
Turlak is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. in Spokane.
