Pavel Ivanovich Turlak, Clean Air Act Violation & COVID-19 Relief Funds Theft, Washington 2024

Spokane, Washington - Pavel Ivanovich Turlak, owner of PT Express, LLC, Spokane Truck Service, LLC, and Pauls Trans, LLC, has pleaded guilty to conspiring to illegally violate Clean Air Act emissions controls and to fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 relief funding.

Between August 2017 and November 2023, Turlak purchased illegal "delete tune" files from Florida-based Ryan Hugh Milliken and his company, Hardaway Solutions, LLC. The files were designed to disable and defeat required emissions controls and monitoring systems. Turlak loaded the delete tunes into his own trucks used in his businesses, as well as trucks of co-conspirators who were customers of Spokane Truck Service, LLC.

Milliken and Hardway Solutions, LLC pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act in November 2024.

In addition to violating the Clean Air Act, Turlak also admitted to fraudulently obtaining hundreds of thousands of dollars in COVID-19 Relief funding. Between March 2020 and August 2021, Turlak falsely and fraudulently applied for and received more than $300,000 in federal funding that was designated to go to eligible small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic. Turlak and his businesses were not eligible to receive this funding due to their ongoing participation in a conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act; yet, Turlak and his businesses falsely certified that they were eligible for this funding.

As a condition of the plea agreement, Turlak and his companies entered a compliance agreement to ensure that their trucks protect the public health and comply with Clean Air Act requirements going forward.

“Mr. Turlak pursued a business of profiting from pollution. By installing emission defeat devices in his own vehicles and the vehicles of others, he sought an illegal competitive advantage and evaded important safeguards designed to protect public health and the environment,” stated U.S Attorney Vanessa R. Waldref. “Families in Eastern Washington deserve to breathe cleaner air, and I am grateful for our partners on our Environmental Task Force who are committed to protecting our community. Working together we will continue to ensure a healthy, high quality of life and keep our region safe and strong.”

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, and Special Assistant United States Attorney Gwendolyn Russell, are prosecuting the case.

Turlak is scheduled to be sentenced on April 2, 2025, at 9:30 a.m. in Spokane, Washington. The defendant, Pavel Ivanovich Turlak, and his companies, PT Express, LLC, Spokane Truck Service, LLC, and Pauls Trans, LLC, have pleaded guilty to the following charges: Conspiracy to Violate the Clean Air Act and Conspiracy to Commit Wire Fraud.

The defendant, Pavel Ivanovich Turlak, is facing up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for the conspiracy to commit wire fraud charge and up to 5 years in prison and a $500,000 fine for the conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act charge.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-edwa/pr/spokane-business-owner-pleads-guilty-conspiracy-violate-clean-air-act-and-stealing