Owners of Clark County automotive repair and performance shop sentenced to home confinement, probation for conspiracy and violations of Clean Air Act

Press Release

Couple lived luxurious lifestyle while causing massive diesel emissions from trucks they modified to remove emissions controls

Tacoma - The owners of two Clark County automotive businesses were sentenced yesterday afternoon for conspiracy and felony violations of the federal Clean Air Act for tampering with diesel trucks' emissions monitoring systems, announced U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman. Tracy Coiteux, 44, and Sean Coiteux, 50, of La Center, Washington, were both sentenced to four years of probation, four months of home confinement, 60 hours of community service and each must pay a $10,000 fine. The two are the co-owners of Racing Performance Maintenance Northwest (known as RPM) and a related sales company called RPM Motors and Sales NW. Tracy Coiteux was convicted by a jury in May 2024 following a three-day jury trial. Sean Coiteux pleaded guilty in March 2024.

The United States Attorney's Office recommended that the Court sentence both defendants to prison time. At the sentencing U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said, "The defendants put their desire for money above their duty to the community and environment… But this once prosperous middle-aged couple is now in financial ruin." The Court did not impose any jail time.

"These defendants removed pollution controls from some 375 trucks, causing them to continuously spew massive amounts of pollutants into the environment. Emissions of diesel exhaust are harmful to human health with links to cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases," said U.S. Attorney Gorman. "The Coiteuxs knew their conduct was illegal and was harming the environment but kept it up to help pay for their 10-acre estate, yacht, and collection of exotic cars. The Department of Justice will continue to seek to hold business owners accountable for putting the health of the community at risk."

An indictment returned in May 2021 charged the Coiteuxs with conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act and eleven specific violations of the Clean Air Act for tampering with the emissions-monitoring system on vehicles when removing pollution control equipment between January 2018 and November 2020.

According to records filed in the case and testimony at trial, the investigation began when a former RPM employee notified the EPA that the company was performing the unlawful modifications, which are known as "deletes" and "tunes." A single truck that has been deleted and tuned can cause the same amount of pollution as up to 1,200 trucks with compliant emissions systems. These modifications are marketed to truck owners as improving vehicle power and performance.

The investigation revealed that between January 2018 and January 2021, the defendants charged their customers fees of about $2,000 per truck to remove (delete) emissions control systems required by federal law. They then modified (tuned) legally required software that works to ensure the vehicle's pollution remains within legal limits. RPM Motors and Sales sometimes offered, as part of the sale of a truck, to remove the emissions control system after the customer purchased a truck. Email and other electronic records document the conspirators' purchase of equipment and software kits to remove the pollution control and reprogram the monitoring systems.

When agents executed a court-authorized search warrant in January 2021, they found some of the emissions parts that had been removed and the replacement tailpipes. They found records detailing some 375 instances of removal of the emissions control hardware and software.

Over the three years described in the court records, the defendants took in more than $500,000 for illegal modifications. Even as they broke the law, the couple used the income for their 10-acre compound with a saltwater pool and garage housing an extensive collection of expensive exotic cars.

In asking for prison time, prosecutors tried to put the amount of air pollution involved in perspective writing to the court, "By deleting 375 trucks, (the) Coiteuxs in effect placed the pollution equivalent of 127,500 new trucks on the road. To put this in perspective, there are only 274,000 diesel trucks registered statewide in Washington. Based on these figures, RPM's modifications had the capacity to increase total diesel pollution by 46% above the pollution caused by all compliant registered light duty diesel trucks statewide."

"For years, the defendants intentionally violated the Clean Air Act by defeating emissions control equipment on well over three hundred diesel trucks," said Special Agent in Charge Lance Ehrig of the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division (EPA CID) in Washington. "Their actions directly resulted in significant excess pollution being emitted into the air, which are linked to heart and lung diseases and even cancer. Today's sentencing demonstrates that individuals and their companies who violate our nation's environmental laws and deliberately threaten human health and the environment will be held criminally responsible for their actions."

The case was investigated by Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigation Division.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson and Cindy Chang and Environmental Protection Agency Special Assistant United States Attorney Karla Gebel Perrin.

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Updated November 5, 2024