Wyoming lawmakers ask for pardon for diesel mechanic jailed for deleting emissions controls
Wyoming lawmakers are asking for a presidential pardon on behalf of a diesel mechanic who was sentenced to prison for disabling emissions control systems on hundreds of heavy-duty commercial trucks.
Mechanic and Diesel Company Sentenced For Violating Clean Air Act
In December 2024, Colorado business owner Troy Lake Sr. was sentenced to 12 months and 1 day in custody and a fine of $2,500 after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Clean Air Act. Lake’s company Elite Diesel Service Inc. was sentenced to a a five-year term of probation and ordered to pay a fine of $37,500. Elite was also ordered to pay $12,500 to a program operated by the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment.
Officials accused Lake of instructing Elite employees to disable the computerized on-board diagnostic (OBD) systems on at least 344 heavy-duty commercial trucks, which violates the Clean Air Act’s prohibition against tampering with monitoring devices.
Lawmakers Ask For Pardon As Trump Administration Rolls Back EPA Regulations
As the Trump Administration has begun pushing back against many Biden-Era emissions rules, lawmakers and Lake’s family are seeking a presidential pardon on Lake’s behalf.
On August 26, 2025, Wyoming State Rep. Chip Neiman penned a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice asking the agency to work with the Trump Administration to issue a pardon for Lake. Neiman says over forty Wyoming House members joined the letter.
From Neiman’s letter:
“Despite the clear public benefit of his work, Mr. Lake was convicted of conspiring to violate the Clean Air Act. For this, he was sentenced to twelve months and one day in federal prison at FCI Florence in Colorado, fined $52,500, and permanently branded a felon. As a result, he has lost not only his livelihood, but also his fundamental rights as an American citizen, including his right to vote and his Second Amendment rights.
The Trump Administration is right to begin the process of repealing the EPA’s flawed and unscientific COz endangerment finding, which provided the regulatory pretext for prosecutions such as Mr. Lake’s. His case is not one of justice, but of a politically weaponized regulatory state targeting hardworking Americans through bureaucratic overreach and activist courts. Indeed, the presiding judge – a Biden-appointee – even admitted that she sought to “make an example” of Mr. Lake—a clear sign that his punishment was about politics, not fairness.“
An online petition started by Lake’s family also asks Trump for a full pardon. So far, the petition has garnered over 1,400 signatures.