Yahoo Autos Feds Bust Diesel Tuners for Allegedly Smuggling $33 Million of Defeat Devices into America
A federal grand jury for the Eastern District of Washington has just returned an indictment charging four men in a scheme in which millions of emissions defeat devices were illegally imported to the United States from Canada. Two of the defendants made $74 million in revenue between 2017 and 2023 via the online sale of those devices, according to federal authorities, in clear violation of the Clean Air Act.
John and Joshua Owens of Mapleton, Utah, as well as Kevin Paul Dodd and Philip John Sweeney of British Columbia, Canada, have all been indicted for their respective roles in this plot. According to the indictment, John and Joshua Owens purchased $33 million in emissions defeat devices from Evolution Auto Performance and Evo Tunes Inc. between December 2015 and November 2023. Evolution Auto Performance and Evo Tunes Inc. are owned by Dodd and Sweeney, respectively.
Emissions defeat devices are a broad category of modifications that are disallowed by the Clean Air Act, and are particularly popular with the diesel community. These items include exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) system block plates, diesel particulate filter (DPF) removal kits, and aftermarket ECUs and tunes that bypass factory emissions systems.
The prevalence of these systems in the diesel world ultimately pushed the EPA to make defeat devices a National Compliance Initiative, starting in 2020. An uptick in enforcement followed that action, with several high-profile tuners and diesel-focused shops facing massive penalties for their role in the distribution of those products.
The Indictment further alleges that John Owens and Sweeney conspired to disguise shipments of the defeat devices in an effort to subvert the authorities. A May 2022 email from Sweeney even suggests that they were familiar with ways of making the illegal transfers happen, but that such information couldn’t be discussed using that method of communication.
When Owens ultimately received an inquiry about his business from federal investigators, he quickly changed the company name to DPF Delete Shop, Inc. This flagrant naming scheme almost certainly didn’t help with criminal evasion. The accompanying website for the business was listed in the Cayman Islands in an effort to continue the sale of these devices, despite repeated warnings from the feds. The indictment stats that the pair of Owens would ultimately pull some $74 million in revenue from the sale of the illegally imported devices. All of this was taking place at the same time many other shops were facing massive legal and financial repercussions for similar activities.
The group could face up to five years in federal prison as a result of the conspiracy charges against them, but that doesn't seem so bad compared to the maximum sentence of up to 20 years in the clink for the smuggling and money laundering that accompanied the scheme. Consider this a great reminder not to taunt the federal government about your crimes.
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