SPOKANE, Wash. — A Florida business owner has pleaded guilty to conspiracy for violating the Clean Air Act by selling illegal “delete tune” files that disable essential emissions controls and monitoring systems in trucks.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington, Milliken and his company, Hardaway Solutions, LLC, created and sold these illegal files between August 2017 and November 2023. The files were tailored for specific customers and vehicles, including several Spokane-based trucking companies and their owner, Pavel Turlak, who is also charged in the indictment against Milliken and Hardway.
“Mr. Milliken had an illegal business built around defeating important safeguards regulating the amount of emissions from diesel engines,” U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref said. “These safeguards are critical to protecting public health and the environment. I am grateful to the investigators with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, technical experts from EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center, and prosecutors in my office who work to achieve environmental justice and make Eastern Washington a clean, safe place to live and work.”
Milliken is scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 22 at 10:30 a.m. in Spokane.
Under the Clean Air Act, diesel trucks must maintain systems that limit harmful emissions of pollutants like diesel particulates. Exposure to diesel exhaust can lead to serious health issues, including asthma and respiratory illnesses, and can worsen existing heart and lung diseases, particularly in children and the elderly. The law also requires heavy-duty diesel trucks to have an onboard diagnostic system that monitors the emissions control components. If the system detects a malfunction or removal of an emissions control component, it can put the truck into “limp mode,” limiting its speed to as low as five miles per hour.
