Hendersonville man sentenced, ordered to pay over $2 million for violating Clean Air Act
A Hendersonville man who sold thousands of devices for automobiles to bypass emissions control systems was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay more than $2 million in fines, according to a June 23 news release by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Chief U.S. District Judge Martin Reidinger sentenced Matthew Sidney Geouge, 35, to one year and one day in prison for conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act by selling more than 14,000 illegal devices that defeat required vehicle emissions control systems, also known as “defeat devices,” Dena J. King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of North Carolina said in the release.
Geouge was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release, six months of which will be in home confinement, and to pay a civil penalty of $1.3 million to the EPA and $1.2 million in restitution to the IRS, the release said.
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One of his co-conspirators, Spade Kaosu Bailly, 50, was also from Hendersonville and was previously sentenced. Bailly is currently on three years of probation, including six months of home confinement. He was also ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and to pay a $10,000 fine.
In addition to the Clean Air Act violation, Geouge was also sentenced for tax evasion. Charles Carfagno, Special Agent in Charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, and Donald “Trey” Eakins, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Division, Charlotte Field Office, joined U.S. Attorney King in making the announcement.
Geouge’s other co-conspirators were previously sentenced for their roles in the scheme after pleading guilty to conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act:
John A. Slagel, 52, of Fairbury, Illinois, was sentenced to three years of probation, to include six months of home confinement, and was ordered to perform 100 hours of community service and to pay a $150,000 fine.
Joshua L. Davis, 43, of Metamora, Illinois, was sentenced to three years of probation, to include six months of home confinement, and was ordered to perform 80 hours of community service and to pay a $50,000 fine.
The EPA issued a notice of violation to Geouge in 2015. However, Geouge continued to sell and service illegal devices. Geouge also evaded paying a penalty owed to the EPA, and taxes owed to the IRS, by having another individual receive the income he earned from the sale of the illegal devices.
The sentencing comes seven months after Geouge's guilty pleas on Nov. 23, 2021. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy and violating the Clean Air Act for tampering with vehicle emissions systems and also pleaded guilty to evading taxes.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between approximately 2008 and January 2017, Geouge and his companies, Spartan Diesel Technologies and Spartan Truck Solutions, obtained devices (“tuners”) that defeat vehicle’s emissions control systems. Individuals load software (“tunes”) onto tuners designed for particular vehicles. For automatic transmission vehicles, Geouge preloaded tunes onto the tuners and sold them to customers.
For manual transmission vehicles, he directed customers to his website to download tunes for themselves. In August 2015, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued Geouge a notice of violation for selling illegal plug-in tuners and tunes through Spartan Diesel Technologies. The Agency filed an administrative complaint and secured a civil penalty of $4,154,805 against the defendant. Geouge continued to sell the tunes and tuners, however, grossing more than $10 million in sales through 2019.
He concealed his assets and taxable income from both the EPA and the IRS, the Department of Justice reported in its monthly bulletin. Based upon this income, Geouge owed approximately $346,000 in taxes for the 2015 through 2019 tax years.
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Co-conspirators Bailly, Davis and Slagel previously pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. Davis owned and operated Patriot Systems, LLC, aka Patriot Diagnostics. Patriot purchased Spartan Diesel Technologies in 2016, despite knowledge of the EPA’s investigation. Davis/Patriot purchased Spartan's inventory and continued to employee Patriot’s sales staff and service employees, and Davis sold Spartan’s “tunes” and serviced the illegal devices until early 2018, the Department of Justice reported.
This article originally appeared on Hendersonville Times-News: Hendersonville man ordered to pay $2M for violating Clean Air Act
