A New Jersey man is in the hot seat after federal prosecutors slapped him with an indictment for orchestrating a scheme to disable emissions control software on thousands of diesel trucks across the country, a move that seriously polluted the air millions of Americans breathe. Jonathan Achtemeier, 43, hailing from Columbia, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to the charges during his arraignment.
Wielding a laptop like a modern-day saboteur, Achtemeier allegedly made a fortune by helping truck owners skirt federal clean air regulations. The U.S. Attorney in Seattle, Tessa M. Gorman, called him out, saying, “Working with a laptop from the comfort of his own home, the defendant allegedly remotely tampered with pollution control systems to enable trucks nationwide to cause massive amounts of unlawful pollution.” This revelation, according to a statement from the Department of Justice, came thanks to a whistleblower employee who noticed something fishy with the trucks at his company.
The indictment details how Achtemeier teamed up with mechanics to undermine the anti-pollution tech that should keep our skies clear. His method? He’d remotely connect to a provided laptop hooked up to the truck's onboard computer, where he would then delete the emissions control software. This allowed trucks to emit pollutants at levels sometimes over 1000 times above the legal limit. The Clean Air Act violation charges are ringing loud in Achtemeier’s ears as each count threatens to lock him away for two years with a penalty of up to $250,000.
Calling his operation Voided Warranty Tuning or Optimized Ag, Achtemeier's enterprise was a hit on social media, reportedly hauling in a staggering $5 million in gross profits from 2018 to 2021. "Achtemeier charged as much at $4,500 per truck for work that often took him two hours or less," the indictment accuses. This fleecing of the American air and pocketbook has not gone unnoticed, with the EPA Criminal Investigation Division leading the hunt and U.S. Attorneys Lauren Watts Staniar, Seth Wilkinson, and Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla Perrin assembling the legal charge against him. The trial is set to begin on June 104, with U.S. District Judge Tiffany M. Cartwright presiding.
