Arkansas Sheriff Allegedly Tried to Sell ‘Deleted and Seized’ Diesel Truck on Facebook: Report

A sheriff in Arkansas was caught this week trying to sell an illegally 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 GMC Sierra 2500 2015 It is listed with 157,000 miles on the odometer for $38,500 with a description that says: “Great running truck.” Deleted and corrected. Description is in the pictures.”

as Arkansas Times Indicating that “deleted and seized” means that the truck’s emission control systems have been illegally removed:

What’s notable about this ad — aside from it being about $12,000 higher than the Kelly Blue Book price for this specific make and model — is the description of the car as “scraped and tuned.”

The term “deleted” in the context of a diesel engine refers to the removal of part or all of an emissions control system, such as an exhaust gas recirculation valve, diesel particulate filter, or other emission-reducing device that has been required on new diesel engines since 2010. Diesel owners remove some or all of these devices to increase horsepower and/or improve fuel economy, although testing of deleted diesel engines against intact diesel engines shows that Removing equipment does none of these things.

The newspaper reportedly contacted him for comment, but he ignored it. But he deleted the Facebook ad.

Yes, that will make all of that go away, my friend. What a galactic brain move. In a way, we’re a little impressed by the audacity it takes for someone in charge of county law enforcement to not only modify their diesel truck illegally but then announce that it was modified illegally as if no one could even take it up with their sheriff. Blatantly breaking the law.

Maybe he thought no one could call the cops because he was in charge of the cops? Or maybe he thought federal law didn’t apply to him for some reason? We can’t really say, though, we should point out that the EPA can absolutely prosecute someone for violating the Clean Air Act even if they are within the law’s enforcement jurisdiction.

And yes, as the Arkansas Times points out, this is an absolute violation of Section 203(a)(3)(A) of the Clean Air Act. Russell theoretically faces a fine of up to $2,500 for each 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 blow the story out, it will at least get their attention.

We’ve reached out to Russell and will update this post if we hear back.