Trucking news and briefs for Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024:
Ohio trucking company owner pleads guilty to illegally consolidating loads, overbilling shippers
A Columbus, Ohio-based interstate trucking company owner pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court to wire fraud.
According to U.S. Attorney Kenneth L. Parker, Gurtej Singh, 48, illegally overbilled shippers, consolidated shipments, and caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of goods shipped to destinations in Ohio like Bath and Body Works and Amazon warehouses.
Singh admitted to covertly opening sealed truck trailers and removing goods. Singh and others illegally consolidated loads to save on delivery costs and failed to deliver many goods to their final destinations.
According to court documents, from April 2018 until December 2019, Singh was employed by Cargo Solutions Express as the manager of its warehouse on Fisher Road in Columbus. Singh later created his own transport company, owning and managing Bhullar Transport Group LLC from January 2020 until May 2022. Singh maintained a warehouse for his company on Interchange Road in Columbus.
In January 2019, Singh filed an application with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on behalf of Bhullar and lied by stating that he did not have certain relationships with other FMCSA-regulated entities. In reality, Singh was affiliated with Cargo Solutions Express and two other trucking companies, Roadhawk Transportation and Show Time Carrier.
The trucking companies provided interstate transportation for manufacturers and retailers. The shippers often paid a premium to reserve the entire truck for cargo that they did not want mixed with others’ cargo. To ensure that loads were not tampered with in transit, the shippers often added serialized plastic seals to the trailer locking mechanism and noted the serial number on the shipping documents. Receivers of the goods could then compare a trailer seal to the paperwork to ensure that the trailer had not been opened.
Singh and others charged the premium rate but opened trailers and consolidated cargo to generate higher profits. They altered the seal serial numbers and paperwork, among other tactics to hide the scheme from shippers and receivers.
For example, in December 2018, Cargo Solutions Express picked up a load in Santa Clarita, California, to be delivered to Reynoldsburg, Ohio, containing products for Bath and Body Works. The load was delivered with an intact seal, indicating that the load had not been opened in transit, but 10 pallets of products worth nearly $230,000 were missing.
When law enforcement executed a search warrant at Cargo Solutions Express’ warehouse in Columbus, they discovered the 10 missing pallets of Bath and Body Works lotions, along with several other pallets of goods reported stolen from multiple shipments bound for an Amazon warehouse in Groveport, Ohio.
ATA names 27 to Law Enforcement Advisory Board
The American Trucking Associations announced Feb. 9 that 27 trucking industry and law enforcement officials have been named to the ATA Law Enforcement Advisory Board.
Formed in 2021, the board advises the ATA Federation on strategies to grow and strengthen relationships between the trucking industry and law enforcement organizations across the country. Comprised of ATA members with previous experience in federal, state or local law enforcement, as well as current and retired law enforcement officials, this year’s LEAB has 27 members with a total of 685 years of law enforcement experience.
For the coming year, the LEAB will be chaired by Mark Savage, director of connected truck solutions at Drivewyze Inc. Steve Dowling, director of enterprise safety training at Covenant Logistics Group Inc., and Steve Keppler, co-director of Scopelitis Transportation Consulting, will serve as the board’s first and second vice chairmen respectively.
The members of this year’s board are:
- Andrew Beckett, Amazon
- Christopher Vinson, Midlothian (Texas) Police Department 
- Derek Barrs, HNTB Corp. 
- Fred Fakkema, Zonar Systems Inc. 
- Gary McCarthy, Aurora Innovation Inc. 
- Jake Elovirta, Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance 
- Janice Mulanix, PrePass Safety Alliance 
- Jeff DeVere, Washington Trucking Associations 
- Jeff Ferber, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. 
- Jeff Tippit, La Porte (Texas) Police Department 
- John Rigney, Pennsylvania Motor Truck Association 
- John Samis, Drivewyze Inc. 
- Jonathan Beshears, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. 
- Keith Eoff, J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. 
- Malik A Henderson, PrePass Safety Alliance 
- Marc Nichols, Drivewyze Inc. 
- Mark Savage, Drivewyze Inc. 
- Michael Martin, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. 
- Parker Harrison, Old Dominion Freight Line Inc. 
- Richard Elliott, Safeway Transportation LLC 
- Rocco Marrari, EBE Technologies 
- Ron Cordova, Zonar Systems Inc. 
- Steve Dowling, Covenant Logistics Group Inc. 
- Steve Keppler, Scopelitis Transportation Consulting 
- Tim Cardwell, High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas  
- Todd Armstrong, Illinois State Police 
- Will Cole, Montana Trucking Association
