Trump issues Clean Air Act pardons for diesel mechanics

President Donald Trump on Friday pardoned nine mechanics who had been convicted for tampering with pollution controls on heavy-duty vehicles.

The convictions under the Clean Air Act were “part of the Weaponization and Stupidity that our Country had to endure during four long years of Sleepy Joe Biden,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

Trump characterized the mechanics’ crimes as “fixing their car,” though in each case the men were convicted for violations like “deleting and tuning” emissions control software or installing aftermarket “defeat devices” on anywhere between a dozen and hundreds of thousands of vehicles.

Such actions can increase a truck’s emissions of pollutants including nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide by dozens or hundreds of times, the Justice Department and EPA said in securing these convictions in recent years.

But since returning to the Oval Office, Trump has included convicted mechanics as another class of people he argues were persecuted by the Biden administration similarly to himself and the Jan. 6 defendants — even though it was during Trump’s first term that EPA first launched an enforcement initiative against tampering.

Trump previously pardoned Troy Lake of Wyoming for tampering, drawing increased interest from similarly convicted people.

Many of those convicted argue they were trying to help people who couldn’t afford to fix their pollution control systems, and the Trump administration has made a U-turn on prosecuting this type of crime. Others maintain they did not know what they were doing was illegal, although EPA in at least some cases had warned them against tampering with vehicles.

Those pardoned by Trump were:

Tim Clancy, an Oregon resident who pleaded guilty in 2024 to charges of tampering with at least 13 semitrailers operated by his logistics company. Clancy was sentenced to three years of probation and a fine of around $100,000.

Mackenzie Spurlock of Alaska, who pleaded guilty last June to deleting and tuning at least 20 diesel vehicles. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) posted video over the weekend of himself congratulating Spurlock over FaceTime and noting that he can now reenlist in the military with the conviction pardoned.

Matt Geouge of North Carolina, who was sentenced in 2022 to one year in prison for selling over 14,000 defeat devices. EPA said it had warned Geouge of the violations in 2015 but that he continued selling the devices. His sentence also included a $1.3 million civil penalty and $1.2 million in restitution to the IRS.

Brothers Ryan and Wade LaLone of Michigan, who pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act for the remote tuning of diesel engines from 2015 through 2018, which DOJ said made up 70 percent of Ryan LaLone’s business. LaLone’s company was assessed a $750,000 fine it hadn’t yet fully paid, while each brother was sentenced in 2024 to a one-year probation.

Wade LaLone celebrated by posting to his Facebook page a video showing his presidential pardon overlaid with video of a meme from the sitcom “Parks and Recreation” in which Ron Swanson, a character played by Nick Offerman, gives a park ranger a permit reading “I can do what I want.”

Jonathan Achtemeier of New Jersey, who pleaded guilty in 2024 over the removal of pollution control software from hundreds of vehicles between 2019 and 2022. He was sentenced in February 2025 to four months in prison and a one-year supervised release, plus a $25,000 fine. DOJ said in its indictment that Achtemeier’s company made $5 million in gross profits for that work between 2018 and 2021.

Joshua Davis, an Illinois man who pleaded guilty in 2021 to one count of conspiring the violate the Clean Air Act for selling or installing “tens of thousands” of defeat devices. He was sentenced to three years’ probation and a $50,000 fine. Davis also settled a civil complaint against him and his businesses with a $600,000 penalty.

Barry Pierce of Idaho, who “tuned and deleted” hundreds of vehicles, with one of his companies generating $14 million revenue in 2018 and part of 2019, according to DOJ. Pierce was sentenced in 2024 to four months in prison, and along with his retail businesses was ordered to pay a $1 million fine.

Aaron Rudolf of North Carolina, whose connection to the sale or installation of over 250,000 defeat devices between 2014 and 2019 led to an assessed civil penalty against him and his company of $7 million on top of $3 million in criminal fines. EPA in 2024 estimated that the pollution impact of Rudolf’s devices was equivalent to adding 11 million vehicles to U.S. roads.

“Yesterday was incredible — a day I truly thought would never come,” Rudolph posted on Facebook on July 4. “We have been fighting this for more than 10 years, and it is an incredible feeling to finally have this chapter behind us.”