Trucker with four sets of log books sent to prison
05/14/2012 - 11:13:05 am
A Philadelphia trucker involved in a 2009 fatal crash will spend 18 months in prison after pleading guilty to falsifying four sets of logbooks.Valerijs Nikolaevich Belovs, 58, of Philadelphia, PA, caused a multi-vehicle crash in January 2009 on Interstate 76 near Conshohocken, PA, according to The Times Herald. The 1997 Kenworth’s brakes were worn, according to the newspaper, and Belovs failed to stop, plowing into stopped traffic. David Schreffier, 49, of Fort Washington, PA, was killed and several others were injured.
Belovs initially pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in 2010 and spent three months in prison.
However, he was also indicted on 15 counts of making false statements. The indictment stemmed from allegations that Belovs maintained four separate logbooks to falsify his hours-of-service compliance.
The first count of the indictment stated that Belovs’ logbook No. 3 showed him off-duty between Dec. 20, 2008 and Jan. 14, 2009 – just days before the fatal crash. In fact, he was driving in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio and Indiana Jan. 6-10, 2009, as well as Jan. 12-14, 2009.
The second count of the indictment stated that Belovs’ logbook No. 4 showed him off-duty between Dec. 23, 2008 and Jan. 12, 2009. Again, he was on-duty driving during at least six of those days in five different states.
The third count stated that logbook No. 1 of Belovs’ showed he was off-duty Dec. 28, 2008 through Jan. 18, 2009. In reality, the indictment states he drove in eight states over a 12-day period that he had shown as off-duty.
The additional 12 counts continued to detail a pattern of alleging off-duty status in one or more logbooks, when actually driving and on-duty.
In addition to the 18 months in prison, Belovs was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and a special assessment of $1,500.
By Jami Jones, Land Line Magazine managing editor
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Used with permission. Unauthorized Use or Duplication Is Prohibited
