A Collins man awaits sentencing after pleading guilty to operating a business that tampered with emissions control systems on commercial logging equipment and at the same time not reporting $1 million in income.
Justin Taylor of the Tattnall County town about 10 miles west of Claxton pled guilty in U.S. District Court Thursday inside the Prince H. Preston Federal Building in Statesboro to conspiracy to tamper with a monitoring device, and fraud and false statement, said Jill E. Steinberg, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Georgia.
According to a release from the Southern District, Taylor faces a sentence of up to five years in prison and substantial financial penalties, followed by a period of supervised release upon completion of any prison term.
As described in court documents and testimony, Taylor was a mechanic working from a shop at his home and at remote job sites from Jan. 1, 2018 through Jan. 20, 2021. Using a high-powered computer that supported diagnostic tools for heavy-duty logging equipment, Taylor performed emission-control “deletes” for more than 200 owners of diesel engines.
The changes Taylor made to the emission controls on those machines disabled the electronic monitoring devices and methods required under the Clean Air Act. Taylor routinely charged $2,000 for this service, earning more than $1.2 million during this period while reporting only $166,853 in income.
For falsifying the information on his tax filings for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, Taylor agreed in his plea to pay a total of $279,642 in restitution to the Internal Revenue Service, along with accrued interest.
“Emissions controls on heavy duty commercial equipment exist to help prevent excessive pollution from diesel engines, and evading those controls makes the air dirtier and less safe for everyone,” Steinberg said. “With this plea agreement, Justin Taylor will no longer profit at the expense of our communities.”
U.S. District Court Judge J. Randal Hall will schedule sentencing for Taylor upon completion of a pre-sentence investigation by U.S. Probation Services.
“Justin Taylor assisted others in illegally evading EPA rules, receiving payments for it and failing to pay taxes on it,” said Demetrius Hardeman, special agent in charge, Atlanta Field Office of IRS Criminal Investigations. “(He) enriched himself substantially and did not fully report his income or pay taxes. IRS Special Agents will continue to investigate and hold tax cheats accountable”
The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division and IRS Criminal.