Southwest Washington business owners poisoned air for profit

The owners of two automotive businesses in Clark County drove themselves into legal trouble.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington, Sean Coiteux, 55, and Tracy Coiteux, 44, of La Center, were sentenced for conspiracy and violating the federal Clean Air Act.

The couple tampered with diesel trucks’s emissions monitoring systems and spent the money they made off of customers on a lavish lifestyle. Therefore, the two will have to complete four years of probation, four months of home confinement, 60 hours of community service and must each pay a $10,000 fine.

The Coiteuxs are the co-owners of Racing Performance Maintenance Northwest (RPM) and sales company RPM Motors and Sales NW.

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U.S. Attorney Tessa M. Gorman stated Tracy Coiteux was convicted by a jury in May after a three-day jury trial. Sean Coiteux pleaded guilty in March.

The attorney’s office recommended the court sentence both defendants to prison time.

“The defendants put their desire for money above their duty to the community and environment … But this once prosperous middle-aged couple is now in financial ruin,” U.S. District Judge Benjamin H. Settle said at the sentencing.

Gorman highlighted how the couple’s violations impacted the environment.

“These defendants removed pollution controls from some 375 trucks, causing them to continuously spew massive amounts of pollutants into the environment,” she said. “Emissions of diesel exhaust are harmful to human health with links to cancer, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The Coiteuxs knew their conduct was illegal and was harming the environment but kept it up to help pay for their 10-acre estate, yacht, and collection of exotic cars. The Department of Justice will continue to seek to hold business owners accountable for putting the health of the community at risk.”

Background of investigation into Clark County couple

A May 2021 indictment charged the Coiteuxs with conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, along with 11 violations of the Clean Air Act for tampering with the emissions-monitoring system on vehicles when removing pollution control equipment between January 2018 and November 2020, according to the attorney’s office.

Through records filed in the case and testimony at trial, attorneys discovered the investigation started when a former RPM employee notified the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the company was performing illegal modifications, known as “deletes” and “tunes.”

“A single truck that has been deleted and tuned can cause the same amount of pollution as up to 1,200 trucks with compliant emissions systems,” the attorney’s office stated. “These modifications are marketed to truck owners as improving vehicle power and performance.”

The investigation showed between January 2018 and January 2021, the couple charged their customers fees of around $2,000 per truck to remove (delete) emissions control systems required by federal law. They then modified (tuned) legally required software that ensures the vehicle’s pollution remains within legal limits.

RPM Motors and Sales sometimes offered to remove the emissions control system after the customer purchased a truck.

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According to Gorman, email and other electronic records revealed the couple’s purchase of equipment used for their crimes. Over the three years, the Coiteuxs raked in more than $500,000 for illegal modifications.

“Even as they broke the law, the couple used the income for their 10-acre compound with a saltwater pool and garage housing an extensive collection of expensive exotic cars,” the attorney’s office stated.

Prosecutors also argued that by “deleting” nearly 400 trucks, the couple placed the pollution equivalent of 127,500 new trucks on the road.

“Their actions directly resulted in significant excess pollution being emitted into the air, which are linked to heart and lung diseases and even cancer,” Special Agent in Charge Lance Ehrig of the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division in Washington said. “Today’s sentencing demonstrates that individuals and their companies who violate our nation’s environmental laws and deliberately threaten human health and the environment will be held criminally responsible for their actions.”

The case was investigated by the EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorneys Seth Wilkinson and Cindy Chang, along with EPA Special Assistant U.S. Attorney Karla Gebel Perrin.

Julia Dallas is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read her stories here. Follow Julia on X here and email her here.