A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania recently indicted Matthew Caroluzzi and his company, Matt's Heavy Duty Mobile Diagnostics and Truck Repair and Heavy Towing (Matt's HD), with nine counts of violating the Clean Air Act and one count of conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act and aiding and abetting.
Matt's HD was a Pennsylvania certified vehicle safety inspection station that performed repairs and maintenance on commercial motor vehicles including heavy duty and medium duty diesel-powered trucks and other vehicles.
Caroluzzi, Matt's HD, and others allegedly performed hundreds of “deletes” of hardware components of commercial motor vehicle emission control systems and software “tunes.” Hardware alterations to emissions control systems are often referred to as “deletes.” These deletes tampered with the monitoring function of diesel trucks' on-board diagnostics (OBD) monitoring systems, thereby enabling numerous vehicles to function while emitting higher levels of air pollutants into the atmosphere.
Caroluzzi and his co-conspirator employees recorded “deletes” and “tunes” as “deletes” on work orders and invoices, but later allegedly disguised the illegal conduct by using code words such as “reprogram,” “re-flash,” and “ECM repair” on Matt's HD paperwork. The act of rendering an OBD system ineffective is commonly referred to as “tuning” or “flashing.”
Caroluzzi, Matt's HD, and co-conspirators benefitted financially by collecting about $1 million from customers for performing, and aiding and abetting the performance of, deletes and tunes on more than 700 diesel powered trucks.
DOT-OIG is conducting this investigation with the Environmental Protection Agency-Criminal Investigation Division.
The statement from the court said indictments, information, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the government, and all defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.
