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Environmental Crimes Bulletin February 2024 Week 3

In this issue:

United States v. Thomas Douglas, et al., No. 3:22-CR-00036 (S.D. Miss.), ECS Senior Litigation Counsel Todd Gleason, ECS Senior Trial Attorney Jeremy Korzenik, ECS Trial Attorney Matt Morris, former ECS Trial Attorney Matt Evans, ECS Paralegals Chloe Harris and Jonah Fruchtman

On February 20, 2024, following an almost two-week trial and after deliberating for more than two days, a jury returned partial verdicts. They found Thomas Douglas guilty of two negligent Clean Water Act (CWA) counts and John Welch guilty of one negligent CWA count. The jury hung on three additional felony counts.

Douglas was the president and co-owner of Gold Coast Commodities, Inc. (GCC), based in Brandon, Mississippi; Welch was the plant manager. The company processes fats, oils, and grease into feedstock for animal food and biofuels. GCC applied for and received pretreatment permits in the 1990s that limited the quantity of treated waste it could discharge to the Jackson area wastewater treatment system (JWTS) to 2,000 gallons a day, well below its daily output. GCC never activated the permits, claiming that it trucked all its waste offsite for treatment and disposal and never discharged any of it into the JWTS. In the beginning of October 2016, state and local regulatory officials discovered discharges of industrial waste downstream from GCC that vastly exceeded numerous pollutant limits.

After officials placed monitors into GCC's sewer outfall to prevent further discharges, the defendants and others trucked GCC's process waste to three other illegal discharge locations, two of which led to the JWTS. They hired two sewage haulers to transport GCC’s industrial waste to JWTS’s treatment plant in tanker trucks marked as “sewage” to conceal its identity. The plant does not accept industrial waste. When that became risky, they hired a trucking company to transport GCC's waste to a small sewer service company owned by co-defendant Andrew Walker (who previously pleaded guilty). There they excavated a JWTS sewer pipe into which they discharged another 3.4 million gallons of GCC's industrial waste until, in October 2017, they were again caught and ordered to stop.

A new lagoon GCC subsequently constructed and overfilled discharged over 400,000 gallons of industrial waste into tributaries of the Jackson reservoir in 2020.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Brandon Police Department, and the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Cities of Brandon and Jackson municipal governments.

United States v. Tamichael Elijah, et al., No. 1:24-CR-00005 (M.D. Ga.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Ethan Eddy, ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer and ECS Paralegal Jillian Grubb

On February 22, 2024, a court unsealed an indictment charging 14 men (residents of Georgia, Florida, and Alabama) with participating in a major dog fighting event that occurred in April 2022 in Donalsonville, Georgia. The following defendants were named: Tamichael Elijah; Marvin Pulley, III; Brandon Baker; Christopher Travis Beaumont; Herman Buggs, Jr.; Terrance Davis; Timothy Freeman; Terelle Ganzy; Gary Hopkins; Cornelious Johnson; Rodrecus Kimble; Donnametric Miller; Willie Russell; and Fredricus White.

On April 24, 2022, the defendants gathered on a property in Donalsonville, Georgia, where they held a large-scale dog fighting event. The defendants and others brought 24 dogs to fight that weekend in a series of matches. Law enforcement personnel who disrupted the event found numerous dogs inside crates in cars on the property.

Elijah resided on the property and hosted the event, and Pulley acted as the primary organizer. He and Russell refereed the matches that occurred before law enforcement arrived. The others charged brought dogs to use for fights at the event. Miller is also charged with the unlawful possession of a firearm for a prior felony conviction.

Authorities rescued 27 dogs from the April 2022 dog fighting event, and another 51 in conjunction with the arrests made.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Office of the Inspector General and the Seminole County Georgia Sheriff’s Office conducted the investigation, with assistance from the Bay County Florda Sheriff’s Office.

United States v. Rodolfo Rodriguez, et al., Nos. 3:23-CR-00138, 3:23-CR-00141 (W.D.N.C), AUSA Steven Kaufman

On February 21, 2024, a court sentenced Rodolfo Rodriguez, owner of The Auto Spa of Charlotte and Tiger Auto Inspections and More, Inc., to ten months’ incarceration, followed by three years of supervised release. Rodriquez also will pay a $302,320 fine and $24,404 restitution to the state of North Carolina. He was sentenced after pleading guilty to making false statements under the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(A)) and conspiracy (18 U.S.C. § 371).

Rodriguez owns and operates The Auto Spa and Tiger Auto Inspections and More Inc., both located in Charlotte, North Carolina. Co-defendant Bryan Canaan worked at both businesses. Between July 2019 and November 2022, Rodriguez and Canaan violated the Clean Air Act by manually changing various categories of data stored in vehicles’ On-Board Diagnostic (OBD) testing equipment. First, Rodriguez and Canaan manually input vehicle identification numbers (VIN) into OBD equipment. In doing so, they entered the vehicle's county of registration as a county not requiring vehicle emissions testing, known as an illegal "county swap." Additionally, they changed the designation of truck types from light duty to heavy duty, thus allowing the trucks to evade the vehicle emissions testing requirement, called an illegal "duty swap." Finally, they changed the type of fuel used from gas or diesel to electric, referred to as an illegal "fuel swap."

A review of testing and registration data showed Rodriguez and Canaan performed approximately 3,800 inspections during this period, causing North Carolina to lose close to $30,000 in fee revenue.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation.

United States v. Diesel Freak, LLC, et al., Nos. 1:23-CR-00048, 1:23-CR-00050 (W.D. Mich.), Former AUSA Justin Presant and AUSAs Meagan Johnson and Stephen Baker

On February 23, 2024, a court sentenced Diesel Freak, LLC, to pay a $750,000 fine and serve a five-year term of probation. This was the largest fine imposed on a defendant connected to this case, in which the Court ordered more than $1.8 million in fines.  The company owner, Ryan Lalone was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine and complete a one-year term of probation. Employee Wade Lalone will pay a $4,000 fine and complete a one-year term of probation. Employee James Sission will pay a $2,000 fine and complete a one-year term of probation. These are the final sentencings in this case, which involved 15 defendants who conspired to violate the Clean Air Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 42 U.S.C. § 7413(c)(2)(C)). The other defendants prosecuted were Accurate Truck Service, LLC, Griffin Transportation, Inc., Craig Scholten, Ryan Bos, Douglas Larsen, Scott DeKock, and Dustin Rhine.

From approximately 2015 through November 2018, Accurate Truck Service removed or altered the hardware components of trucks with heavy-duty diesel engines; these components controlled the vehicles’ emissions.  Diesel Freak, LLC, reprogrammed the trucks’ engine computers so that they would continue to function even after the hardware was removed or altered.  This process is sometimes referred to as a “deletion,” that is, “deleting” the emissions controls from the vehicles.  Deleting emissions controls from the vehicles can improve performance and fuel economy and save maintenance costs, but also causes significant detrimental environmental impacts.  Tampering with or removing emissions controls can drastically increase the emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and non-methane hydrocarbons found in vehicle exhaust.

Griffin Transportation and the company DeKock formerly owned engaged Accurate Truck Service and Diesel Freak to delete trucks owned, operated, or leased by the companies.  During the conspiracy, Diesel Freak was involved in at least 362 deletions; Accurate Truck Service in at least 83 deletions; Griffin Transportation, in at least 12 deletions; and DeKock’s former company in at least 4 deletions. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division conducted the investigation, with assistance from Homeland Security Investigations, the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Environmental Investigation Section. 

United States v. Kevin Sheng Hsiang Fang d/b/a Yong Chang Trading Co., No. 2:23-CR-00195 (C.D. Calif.), AUSA Alix McKenna

On February 26, 2024, a court sentenced Kevin Shen Hsiang Fang, d/b/a/ Yong Change Trading Co., to 15 months’ incarceration, followed by one year of supervised release. Fang pleaded guilty to smuggling and introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce (18 U.S.C. § 545; 21 U.S.C. §§ 331(a), 333(a)(1)). The defendant, a food wholesale company, attempted to smuggle Chinese frozen roasted eel for human consumption that authorities previously refused entry into the United States.

Fang was a high-volume importer of Chinese frozen roasted eel, commonly known as unagi. The case stems from Fang’s shipment of unagi that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tested and determined unsafe for human consumption. The FDA subsequently refused to allow it to enter the United States.

In November 2017, Fang re-imported the previously refused Chinese frozen roasted eel (commingled with other eel) using new entry information to evade detection. He also knew that the product was adulterated with Gentian Violet, Leucogentian Violet, and Malachite Green. These antifungals are used in the fish farming industry but are banned in the United States as potential carcinogens when used on food products.

The Department of Homeland Security Investigations and the Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations conducted the investigation.

United States v. John M. Kreatsoulas, No. 1:23-CR-20480 (S.D. Fla.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Gary Donner, AUSA Tom Watts-FitzGerald, and ECS Law Clerk Amanda Backer

On February 28, 2024, John M. Kreatsoulas pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally export thousands of turtles to Germany and China, and falsifying documents to conceal his conduct in violation of the Lacey Act (18 U.S.C. § 371; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(d)(1), 3373(d)(3)(A)). Sentencing is scheduled for May 17, 2024.

Between July 2015 and July 2021, Kreatsoulas owned Omni Reptiles, Inc., an unregistered business located in Alva, Florida. Omni was a domestic and international wholesale wildlife trading company. Along with other types of wildlife it sold protected species of reptiles, which were shipped to Germany and China through Miami International Airport.

Kreatsoulas and co-conspirators collected and captured various species of turtles, from the wild in Florida, including Three-Stripe Mud Turtles and Florida Mud Turtles. They sold them to buyers in other states and countries. Kreatsoulas attempted to conceal his activity, in part, by obtaining a Florida State license to maintain and sell “captive-bred” turtles to provide the appearance the turtles were legally obtained. Kreatsoulas also used a false “source” code on shipping papers as well as invoices that indicated the turtles were captive-bred.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation.

United States v. Saul Enrique Jose De La Cruz et al., No. 3:24-CR-00074 (D.P.R.), ECS Senior Trial Attorney Patrick Duggan and AUSA Seth Erbe

On February 29, 2024, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Dominican nationals with smuggling goods from the United States, Lacey Act trafficking, and failing to allow the U.S. Coast Guard to board their vessel (18 U.S.C. §§554, 2237; 16 U.S.C. §§ 3372(a)(1), (a)(4), 3373(d)(1)(B)).

On February 21, 2024, while on patrol, a Customs and Border Protection aircraft detected a suspicious vessel approximately 39 nautical miles north of Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The U.S. Coast Guard responded to interdict the vessel, which was flagless and outfitted for smuggling. Upon approach, Saul Enrique José De La Cruz and Simon De La Cruz Paredes failed to stop the vessel, forcing authorities to shoot out the engines. Following the vessel boarding, officials found 22 plastic bags (each holding approximately 5,000 live juvenile American eels), bottles of oxygen, a handgun, and a backpack full of ammunition.

The men stated that they had caught the eels in Puerto Rico and planned to sell them in the Dominican Republic.

The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Office of Law Enforcement conducted the investigation, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, the Puerto Rico Police Bureau Joint Forces of Rapid Action, and the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources.

Updated April 25, 2024