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Florida Business Owner Pleads Guilty to Conspiracy to Violate the Clean Air Act Publisher: U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Washington Byline: Robert Curry Dateline: Spokane, Washington 
Date: 24 October 2024 Subjects: American Government , Crime, The Environment
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Florida-Based Company Created and Sold to Spokane Trucking Companies Illegal Software Designed to Defeat and Disable Emissions Controls on Diesel Trucks
Spokane, Washington - Vanessa R. Waldref, the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Washington, announced today Ryan Hugh Milliken and his company, Hardaway Solutions, LLC (Hardaway), pleaded guilty to Conspiracy to Violate the Clean Air Act. Milliken is scheduled to be sentenced on January 22, 2024 at 10:30 a.m., in Spokane, Washington.
Under the Clean Air Act, diesel trucks are required to maintain systems and components that limit harmful emissions of dangerous pollutants such as diesel particulates. Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to serious health conditions like asthma and respiratory illnesses and can worsen existing heart and lung disease, especially in children and the elderly. Heavy-duty diesel trucks are also required under the Clean Air Act to maintain an onboard-diagnostic system which monitors the functionality of the hardware emissions control components. In order to ensure that the required emissions control systems are functioning properly, if the system detects that an emissions control component is not working, or has been removed, it will ultimately put the truck into what is known as “limp mode,” which limits the top speed to as low as 5 miles per hour.
Based on the plea agreement accepted by the court and information disclosed during court proceedings, between August 2017 and November 2023, Milliken and Hardway created and sold illegal “delete tune” files designed to disable and defeat required emissions controls and monitoring systems. According to the Plea Agreement and information disclosed during court proceedings, Milliken and Hardway created and sold these “delete tune” files for specific customers and vehicles and their specifications, including for numerous Spokane-based trucking companies and their owner, Pavel Ivanovich Turlak, who is also charged in the Indictment that names Milliken and Hardway.
“Mr. Milliken had an illegal business built around defeating important safeguards regulating the amount of emissions from diesel engines,” stated U.S. Attorney Waldref. “These safeguards are critical to protecting public health and a safe environment. I am grateful to investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division, technical experts with EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, and prosecutors in my office who work to achieve environmental justice and make Eastern Washington a clean, safe place to live and work.”
This case was investigated by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division with assistance from EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, the Small Business Administration, Office of Inspector General, and the Spokane Police Department. Assistant United States Attorneys Dan Fruchter and Jacob E. Brooks are prosecuting the case.
While Ryan Milliken and Hardway have pled guilty and those pleas have been accepted by the court, the indictment as to Pavel Turlak is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
2:24-cr-00057-TOR
ContactRobert Curry
Public Affairs Specialist
Updated October 24, 2024