Manson Man Indicted On Federal Charges For Violating Clean Air Act

A federal court has charged a Manson business owner and three of his associates with obtaining and selling millions of dollars worth of illegal emissions devices over a period of eight years.

A grand jury handed down the sealed indictment last month accusing John Wesley Owens, his son Joshua Wesley Owens of Mapleton, Utah, and two Canadian men - Kevin Paul Dodd and Philip John Sweeney, of illegally importing electronic devices designed to bypass the emissions controls on large diesel trucks.

Get our free mobile app

The components, which are known as "defeat devices", violate the Clean Air Act by circumventing the systems that limit pollutants which are required on all diesel trucks.

U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref says Owens and the three co-defendants purchased over $33 million in defeat devices from Canada and re-sold them for nearly $75 million to customers in the United States between December, 2015 and November, 2023.

The indictment also details their efforts to avoid detection and elude the oversight of the Environmental Protection Agency by rebranding business names and licenses and establishing operations in the Cayman Islands.

The four men are each facing a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison for charges including conspiracy to violate federal clean air standards, money laundering, and smuggling.

Neither Owens, nor Dodd or Sweeney are currently incarcerated, and each is expected to remain free until their trial - the date of which has yet to be scheduled.