What Happened When an Auto Shop Employee Violated Clean Air?

‘Environmental violations will not be tolerated and polluters will be held accountable for their actions.’

A Charlotte resident will spend nearly a year in prison for fraudulently coding over 3,800 vehicles that would have ultimately failed the North Carolina emissions inspection, according to the US Attorney’s office.

On Wednesday Rodolfo Rodriguez, 43, was sentenced  to 10 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release for violating the Clean Air Act, Dena King, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of N.C., announced.

In addition Rodriguez was ordered to pay a $302,320 fine and $24,404.60 in restitution to the state of N.C., prosecutors said.

“Vehicle emission standards and testing are in place to protect the health and safety of our communities,” King said in a statement. “Environmental violations will not be tolerated and polluters will be held accountable for their actions.”

Records show that from July 2019 to November 2022, Rodriguez fraudulently coded the 3,779 vehicles while he was employed at Friendly Auto Repair and later as the owner and operator of Auto Spa Auto Inspections and More, and Tiger Auto Inspections and More, Inc.

“Court documents show that Rodriguez executed the scheme by falsely changing the information of vehicles that would have otherwise failed the required State emissions testing, so that they were no longer required by the State’s registration system to have a passing emissions test,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

When given the opportunity, Rodriguez did “county swaps,” by swapping in the system the county of registration for vehicles from a county that required an emissions test to a county where no emissions testing was required, according to court documents.

There were other times where Rodriguez did “duty swaps,” in where he changed the characterization of trucks in the system from light-duty trucks, which require emissions inspections, to heavy-duty trucks, which do not require such testing, the U.S. Attorney said.

He also made “Fuel swaps,” where the type of fuel used was changed from gas or diesel to electric, thus allowing such vehicles to evade the vehicle emissions testing requirement, were also used, court documents stated.

“In exchange for falsifying vehicle information, Rodriguez received cash payments from customers that far exceeded what customers would have paid to have an emissions inspection,” stated a local news release. “In addition, Rodriguez paid the State of North Carolina only $0.85 per non-emissions/safety inspection, instead of the $6.25 per vehicle charge he should have paid for an inspection.”

On June 15, 2023, Rodriguez pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. and violate the Clean Air Act, and one count of violating the Clean Air Act. He will be ordered to report to the federal Bureau of Prisons upon designation of a federal facility.

His sentence comes after the owner of Friendly Auto Repair was sentenced to a year in prison and a $1.2 million fine for violating federal law by fraudulently signing off on vehicle emissions inspections.