Trump Pardons Alaska Mechanics Convicted of Clean Air Act Violations
"They wanted to put them in jail for 10 years because they fixed an engine, how sick," Trump told the audience, criticizing federal enforcement policies under former President Joe Biden. He argued that restrictions on emissions equipment could create difficulties for workers operating vehicles in the extreme cold of Alaska.
The pardoned mechanics, Zachary Czubak and Patrick Fleming, jointly owned Arm Rippin Toys, an automotive repair business based in Anchorage. In 2022, both men and a third business partner, Michael Wayne Hanzuk, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges related to violations of the Clean Air Act.
Prosecutors alleged that the company removed mandatory emissions-control equipment and modified monitoring components in at least 37 diesel trucks between July 2019 and September 2020.
"This means the world to me," Fleming said during the rally, explaining that the mechanics had sought to help drivers.
The pardons follow a change in federal enforcement policy announced by the US Justice Department in January. Under the revised approach, the department will no longer pursue criminal charges against individuals for tampering with diesel emissions defeat devices, limiting future enforcement in such cases to civil penalties.
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