A former member of the Woodford County Board and his Spring Bay-area businesses are accused of violating the federal Clean Air Act.
The U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency allege Joshua Davis and his companies made, sold and installed "at least thousands" of vehicle emission "defeat devices" created to bypass vehicle emission controls. The devices can rev up a vehicle's power or performance, but at the cost of increasing its greenhouse gas output.
Businesses owned by Davis include River City Diesel, RCD Performance, and Midwest Truck and 4WD Center. All of those businesses operated at 1360 Spring Bay Road in rural Woodford County.
The EPA first began looking into RCD in 2017, after learning the company sold numerous Spartan Diesel Technologies tuners.
EPA inspectors first visited his facility in January 2018. Davis allegedly told the inspectors he used to sell defeat devices, but had stopped. Investigators say that was a lie. They noted RCD's website was still processing orders for defeat devices. Investigators purchased a defeat device from RCD through a contractor in April 2020.
Federal prosecutors also allege RCD illegally transferred assets to Davis in violation of the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act.
On Davis' Facebook campaign page for county board, he noted his company made nearly $10 million a year in revenue as of Feb. 2018.
The U.S. EPA and DOJ are seeking civil penalties of $4,819 per violation by Davis' companies after Nov. 2015, and permanent injunctions prohibiting Davis and his companies from manufacturing, selling, or installing defeat devices.
