Trucking news and briefs for Wednesday, Sept. 4, 2024:
Whiskey Dix repair shop, towing company owner convicted of PPP fraud
The owner of Bourbon, Missouri-based Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair LLC -- a repair shop that owned tow trucks -- was found guilty by a jury last week on charges of bank fraud, Clean Air Act violations and threatening witnesses.
The jury in U.S. District Court in St. Louis convicted Christopher Carroll, 54, 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.
Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair, partially owned by Carroll, was also found guilty of 16 Clean Air Act violations.
According to Sayler A. Fleming, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Missouri, Carroll and his business partner, George Reed, submitted a false and fraudulent application for a $1.2 million Paycheck Protection Program loan in April 2020 for a time share exit company they ran, Square One Group LLC, which purported to help people get out of timeshare agreements. Carroll, Reed and other Square One owners were sued by the Federal Trade Commission in 2022 for allegedly scamming consumers, mostly older adults, out of $90 million. That case is still playing out in court.
[Related: Former fleet owner gets jail time, ban from trucking]
The loan application contained false statements, including that Reed and Carroll’s wives owned the company. Reed and Carroll submitted loan applications in their spouses’ names to hide that Carroll was a paroled felon, which would have barred his company from receiving PPP funds.
After receiving the loan, Carroll did not use the money to pay his dozens of employees or keep their health insurance active. Instead, he began buying trucks and land to start Whiskey Dix, Fleming said.
Carroll and Reed then applied for loan forgiveness, falsely claiming that they’d spent the money on payroll and other permitted expenses. They then sought a second loan of more than $1.6 million. When that loan was approved, Carroll and Reed took a total of $660,000 in “owner draws” from the company, evidence showed.
In addition to PPP loan fraud, Carroll also removed emissions control devices from Whiskey Dix’s tow trucks, as well as others.. During the resulting investigation, Carroll would later ask one employee to “take the fall,” and told another that he would stop paying for his lawyer if he talked to federal agents. He did follow through on that threat, Fleming said.
Reed, 69, pleaded guilty to bank fraud in September 2022 and admitted fraudulently applying for, obtaining and using the two PPP loans. He admitted that the company failed to pay a “significant number” of employees, despite obtaining the loans that would have allowed them to do so. His plea also said Carroll terminated the health insurance benefits of at least 17 employees.
[Related: Former fleet co-owner sentenced for work-comp scheme]
Wyoming to issue emergency relief permits to livestock feed, livestock haulers
Wildfires in Wyoming have prompted Gov. Mark Gordon to issue an emergency declaration waiving certain regulations for operators hauling livestock and livestock feed in the state.
Gordon’s declaration noted that Wyoming has experienced widespread wildfires with hundreds of thousands of acres burned, low humidity and high temperatures that have created a shortage of livestock feed in the state due to depleted pasture grass and natural feed supplies. The declaration added that “easing restrictions to transport loads of livestock feed and livestock is necessary to provide assistance for fire-stricken areas.”
As such, Gordon’s declaration allows for the issuance of emergency relief permits that will allow:
- Oversize loads of livestock feed to be transported over any highway in the state two hours before official sunrise until two hours after official sunset
- Vehicles hauling oversize loads of livestock feed on any state highway can be up to 12 feet wide and 15 feet tall, with front and rear “Oversize Load” signs required
- For non-daylight travel, trucks hauling oversize livestock feed loads must be equipped with amber clearance lights on each front corner, and a red clearance light on each rear corner of the load or vehicle, whichever is wider. These loads must also display a revolving amber light, amber strobe light or two-way flashing amber lights at least 4 inches in diameter.
- Overweight loads of livestock feed or livestock should not be more than 10% over the allowed axle weights and no more than 5,000 pounds over the gross weight allowed.
The permits are only valid for movements of livestock feed or livestock to either a destination within Wyoming or through Wyoming to a destination in another state that has declared an emergency for livestock feed or livestock. Permits can be obtained from the Wyoming Highway Patrol.
The executive order is effective through Sept. 29.
ATA: Driver wages continue to rise
The American Trucking Associations on Tuesday released the results of its latest Driver Compensation Study showing that, despite a currently challenging freight market for motor carriers, driver wages across the industry continue to increase post-pandemic.
The study provides detailed wage and benefit information for drivers based on a wide-ranging survey that collected data from 120 fleets, more than 150,000 employee drivers and 14,000 independent contractors.
Among the key findings in this year’s survey:
- Leased-on independent contractors for truckload carriers were compensated an annual median amount of $186,016 (revenue) in 2023.
- Truckload drivers earned a median annual amount of $76,420 in 2023 – a 10% increase over the previous two years.
- Linehaul LTL drivers earned a median annual amount of $94,525 in 2023, while local LTL drivers earned a median of $80,680.
- Median annual compensation for drivers at private carriers has risen 12% since 2021, reaching $95,114 in 2023.
- Carriers offered smaller referral and fewer sign-on bonuses for new drivers in 2023 compared to 2021 but more frequently offered tenure bonuses to their current drivers and with a greater median value.
“While our last study, conducted in 2021, illustrated how drivers benefited from the strongest freight environment in a generation, this latest report shows professional drivers’ earnings are still rising – even in a weaker freight economy,” said ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello. “By offering greater tenure bonuses to their current driver force, many fleets appear to be shifting their workforce priorities from recruitment to retention.”
[Related: Roads through the dark clouds of a very tough market: Limitations, possibilities]
