Trucking news and briefs for Monday, Feb. 17, 2025:
Guilty plea in smuggling case involving 36 people
A 33-year-old Alamo, Texas, resident has pled guilty to charges of human smuggling.
U.S. Attorney Nicholas J. Ganjei announced that on Dec. 13, 2024, Eusebio Cavazos drove a tractor-trailer into the primary inspection lane at the Border Patrol checkpoint near Sarita, Texas. Upon initial inspection, a K-9 alerted to the possible presence of humans in the trailer.
Authorities referred him to secondary inspection where they discovered 36 illegal migrants in the back of the trailer and nothing else. Of the 36 people in the trailer, 15 were from Guatemala, 10 from Honduras, eight from Mexico and three from El Salvador. All were illegally present in the United States, and five had allegedly been previously removed and have pending charges for illegal re-entry.
Cavazos admitted someone had hired him to drive all 36 illegal migrants from a point near Donna, Texas, to Houston. He expected to receive $1,000 per person he was transporting.
“As we have unfortunately seen in prior instances, smuggling of people via a tractor-trailer is extremely dangerous and can lead to mass casualties,” Ganjei said. “As the Department of Justice works to secure the border and bring down demand for smugglers, we simultaneously expect to see a decrease in the number of people transported through such means.”
Cavazos is expected to be sentenced May 15 by U.S. District Judge David Morales. At that time, Cavazos faces up to five years in federal prison and a maximum $250,000 fine. Cavazos has been and will remain in custody pending that hearing.
[Related: 37 migrants found in trailer at border]
Whiskey Dix repair shop owner gets 9 years in prison
Christopher Lee Carroll, 55, the owner of Bourbon, Missouri-based Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC, was sentenced to 9 years in prison for bank fraud, Clean Air Act violations and witness tampering. He was also ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.
Carroll was convicted by a jury in August of three counts of bank fraud, three counts of making false statements to a financial institution, one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, 13 violations of the Clean Air Act, and two counts of threatening a witness.
Evidence and testimony at trial showed that Carroll and his business partner, George Reed, were owners of a time share exit company called Square One Group LLC. In April 2020, they submitted a false and fraudulent application for a $1.2 million Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan.
The loan application falsely stated that the spouses of Reed and Carroll owned the company in order to conceal Carroll’s status as a paroled felon, which would have precluded his company from receiving PPP funds. Carroll also used his wife’s name to avoid any potential liability for the fraud, a sentencing memo filed by prosecutors says.
The PPP loan was supposed to help save businesses and jobs, but Carroll did not use the money to pay dozens of employees who were out of work or keep paying for health insurance for 17 of those employees. Instead, he used it to start Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC. Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses.
Reed and Carroll later sought a second loan of more than $1.6 million, taking a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company after the loan was approved, the evidence showed.
The Clean Air Act violations were related to Carroll removing emissions control equipment designed to reduce pollutants from Whiskey Dix’s fleet of diesel trucks. Carroll asked one employee to “take the fall” for his crimes and told another that he would stop paying for the employee’s lawyer if he talked to federal agents, evidence and testimony showed. Carroll did stop paying for the lawyer.
Carroll is a “consummate fraudster,” the government sentencing memo said, who ran a company that preyed on elderly victims before committing the pandemic loan fraud and other crimes. Carroll is also a “dangerous, violent person,” the memo added, citing prior convictions, including felonious restraint and forcible sodomy, and evidence of Carroll’s participation in a murder-for-hire scheme.
Whiskey Dix was also found guilty of 16 Clean Air Act violations and was sentenced to three years of probation.
Reed, now 70, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September of 2022 and admitted fraudulently applying for, obtaining and using the two PPP loans. Reed admitted as part of his guilty plea that the company failed to pay a “significant number” of employees, despite the PPP loans, and that Carroll terminated the health insurance benefits of at least 17 employees. Reed was sentenced last month to time served and ordered to pay $3 million in restitution.
[Related: Owner of Missouri truck shop, tow company guilty of loan fraud, more]
Bankruptcy auction set for Wednesday
A court-approved bankruptcy sale will be hosted Wednesday, Feb. 19, by Tiger Group. The auction offers an opportunity to acquire well-maintained trucks and trailers at liquidation values, the company said.
The live webcast auction is part of the complete liquidation of a leading North American truck and trailer dealer and leasing company.
Represented in the sale are well-known truck manufacturers, such as International, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Paccar, Kenworth and Daimler. In addition, 53-foot dry van and reefer trailers from CIMC, Great Dane, Hyundai, Utility and Wabash are available in the nationwide auction.
"More than 70 new and used tractor trucks and trailers are featured in this sale, which is the second in a series," said Chad Farrell, Managing Director, Tiger Commercial & Industrial. "It is an outstanding opportunity, as most of these assets are predominantly late-model, ranging in age from 2021 to 2024."
The live webcast auction starts at 1 p.m. Central time on Wednesday, Feb. 19. Veteran auctioneer Wayne Hecht, Senior Director of Operations for Tiger Commercial & Industrial, will take online bids in a live simulcast from Tiger Group's studio.
Trucks and trailers featured in the auction, according to Tiger Group, include:
- 8 Peterbilt 389 and 579 tractors
- 10 2019-‘24 International LT625 tractors
- 32 2019-’24 Freightliner Cascadia tractors
- 3 2022-‘23 Kenworth T680 tractors
- 20-plus additional late-model tractors from Mack, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Kenworth, International and Volvo
- 8 CIMC and Vanguard reefer trailers
- 6 Utility and Hyundai dry van trailers
- 11 additional dry van trailers
[Related: This trucker's modest take on his truck]
