Texas police say that they arrested and charged three men this week for conducting “unlawful inspections on semi-trucks.”
On Monday, February 25, Aaron Wiggins, Joe Wiggins and Steven Ball were arrested by officers with the Harris County Constable’s office and accused of faking Department of Transportation (DOT) inspections on semi trucks in at a licensed state vehicle inspection station in Houston.
The arrests come after a multi-agency investigation into operations at the Truck And Trailer Inspection business located on Pearl Street during which officers observed a surprisingly large number of trucks — 122 in total — being inspected in just two days.
Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman told ABC 13, “They were fraudulently inspecting these vehicles. They weren’t doing the correct inspections on them and then they were forging government documents saying they passed state inspection when they did not.”
Officers with the Texas Department of Public Safety assisted in the investigation.
Wiggins, Wiggins, and Ball were each charged with two felony counts of Tampering with a Governmental Record. More charges could be coming, police say.
Hermain said, “This type of criminal activity affords the opportunity for unsafe vehicles to be driven on a public roadway due to not meeting the minimum safety standards. Illicit money gained from these types of activities is often used to fund other criminal activities.”
