The co-owner of Wisla Express has been sentenced to 14 months in prison for forcing his drivers to drive over their allowed hours and falsifying log books to hide the extra hours. The owner must also pay a $20,000 fine and upon completing his sentence will be under three years of supervised release, after which he will may not be connected with any federally regulated transportation business.
The owner, who had previously been convicted of fraud twice, allegedly kept two sets of log books; one with the actual hours his drivers worked, and one with the doctored hours to show to authorities. His drivers routinely drove over hours and were on duty for longer than the FMCSA allows.
The attorney for the defendant suggested that perhaps the errors he had made were inadvertent, but the prosecuting attorney maintained that the company owner knew exactly what he was doing.
“It was the defendant’s policy and practice to have drivers drive many more hours than allowed by federal safety regulations,” she said. “To avoid detection, he had his drivers and employees create false driver logs that showed that his bus and van drivers were driving fewer hours than they actually were.”
The judge levied the harshest punishment allowable under the plea deal that his lawyers worked for him last year. Even though after his release he will not be allowed to interact with his transportation company in any way, according to his lawyer, the company owner will be returning to his travel agency, financial services and other businesses.
The company, Wisla Express, will pay a $75,000 fine, but will be allowed to continue operating as a passenger transport company.
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Source: courant
Michelle says
I’m driving for a local, small company owner who is doing the same thing. We have to run logs, but it’s not unusual for us to work 16 hour days. However we can’t show it on our logs, obviously. He expects us to cut off our time once we get to the plant, even though we may be there a couple of hours. Unfortunately, all his other drivers are okay with this, so it leaves me with no choice but to keep on until I can find something else.
Slim says
Michelle don’t be the one who sits by the side and goes along with everyone else. You are going to feel horrible if one of your drivers hurts someone, and it may be you. We as drivers need to stand up and I hope you have the courage to do so. You said you were looking so what’s the difference if you get fired, then you can really take the guy down. Follow your heart.
John says
Common practice in South Texas. Almost every trucker who I talked to told me about lying with the paper logs.
Ray says
I believe the industry is moving away from paper logs. It will be interesting to see how productivity is effected when everybody is on electronic logs.
Peter says
I drove for a company who did the same thing.HRS in new jersey so I quit soon as I got back
Pat says
Our company runs e-logs and it’s just as easy to cheat on them. Just log out and keep working. And with the little sticker on the side of the door that says this truck is e-log equipped and the scales don’t even check. Most of them don’t know how to even check e-logs. After 27 years out here it’s time to hang it up
Edwin says
I tried to stay 100% legal, but there were certain instances that I ran a little over on time. The few times I ran over on time was honestly looking for a place to park, and because I was less than an hour away from home (not the terminal). But I had a coworker that would “cook the books” and tried to get me to do the same. I just stood my ground and said that it’s dumb and too much work.
HT says
when one of your fellow employees is involved in a fatal accident and your company goes thru a audit they are going to match computer records, delivery receipts, tolls, fuel receipts and scalehouse records with your logs and if everything does not match up you could be fined up to $10,000 and if you are the one that was involved in the accident you could serve jail time and be responsible for up to $1 million in punitive damages. IT AINT WORTH IT!!! if you cannot do it safely and legally; DO N’T DO IT!!