A Sheriff in Arkansas was caught this week allegedly attempting to sell a very much illegal modified truck on Facebook, of all places.
Sharp County, Arkansas, Sheriff Shane Russell allegedly tried to sell an illegally modified truck on social media, the Arkansas Times reports. The 2015 GMC Sierra 2500 was listed with 157,000 miles on the odometer for $38,500 with a description that read, “Great running truck. Deleted and tuned. Description is in pictures.”
As the Arkansas Times pointed out “deleted and tuned” means the truck’s emissions control systems have been illegally removed:
What is notable about this ad — aside from being about $12,000 above the Kelly Blue Book price for this particular make and model — is the description of the vehicle as “deleted and tuned.”
“Deleted,” in the context of a diesel engine, refers to the removal of part or all of the emissions control system, such as the exhaust-gas-recirculation valve, the diesel-particulate filter, or other emissions-reducing devices that have been required on new diesel engines since 2010. Diesel owners remove some or all of these devices to increase horsepower and/or to improve fuel economy, though testing of deleted vs. intact diesel engines shows that removing the equipment does neither of these things.
The paper reportedly contacted him for a comment, which he ignored. He did, however, delete the Facebook ad.
Yeah, that will totally make this all go away, buddy. What a galaxy brain move. In a way, though, we’re a little impressed with the audacity it takes for someone in charge of law enforcement in the county to not only illegally modify their diesel truck but then advertise that it’s been illegally modified as if no one might possibly take issue with their sheriff so blatantly breaking the law.
Maybe he thought no one could call the cops on him since he’s in charge of the cops? Or perhaps he thought that federal law didn’t apply to him for some reason? We can’t really say, although, we should point out that the Environmental Protection Agency can absolutely prosecute someone for violating the Clean Air Act even if they’re in law enforcement.
And yes, as the Arkansas Times pointed out, this is absolutely a violation of Section 203(a)(3)(A) of the Clean Air Act. Russell theoretically faces a fine of up to $2,500 per violation, as well as up to two years in prison. We’re not sure if the EPA will actually go after him for this, but maybe if we amplify the story, it’ll at least get their attention.
We’ve reached out to Russell and will update this post if we hear back.