Carl Johansson, owner of Corona trucking company Quality Services, was sentenced to 10 years in prison Nov. 9, after covering up a federal investigation into a fatal explosion at his facility near the Corona Municipal Airport.
On May 6, 2014, Quality Services’ management ordered welder Samuel Enciso to work on a tanker that still had crude oil in it, resulting in an explosion and Enciso’s death.
Johansson had started his trucking company after being released from a 15-month prison sentence due to another fatal explosion at his former company, Ash, Inc., in 1993, which resulted in the death of Leonardo Quintero.
Neither company was certified to repair cargo tanks. Two other nonfatal explosions had occurred at Johansson’s company before Enciso’s death.
Johansson pleaded guilty Sept. 29, 2021 to one count of conspiring to make illegal repairs and one count of welding without required certification. He also pleaded guilty to tax evasion, COVID relief fraud, bank fraud and conspiracy to commit bank fraud.
In a sentencing memorandum, Johansson asserted innocence regarding the lack of certification and the failure to purge the tanker before welding on May 6, 2014. He denied ordering the fatal welding job.
“Not only did Mr. Johansson and the businesses have safety protocols in place and safety equipment made available to employees, their safety record over 30 years, despite the anecdotal position of the government, was consistent with and surpassed some of the more well-known carriers of hazardous materials,” his document reads.
The judge ordered Johansson to pay $1.25 million in restitution to two banks and the IRS.
Johansson misled law enforcement following the explosion. When investigators arrived at his business on the day of the fatal explosion, he pretended to be a customer service representative with another company, and claimed the welders were employed by an outside company.
To further that claim, he applied to work through a staffing company two weeks after the accident. He then paid himself a weekly payment of $1,467, through the staffing company, with the title “Outside Sales Rep.”
He also falsely signed, under oath, an affidavit that said his company never engaged in tank repairs and that his shop manager worked for an outside company.
He owned two companies, National Distribution Services, and its successor, Wholesale Distribution, which did business as Quality Services. Prosecutors claimed he created Quality so that he could continue to illegally operate cargo tanks that were ordered out of service after the two non-fatal welding explosions.
Prosecutors said he failed to report $1.16 million in income from the trucking companies, gaining $298,562 in unpaid taxes. He used that money to rent a large home in Corona for $12,000 per month and to pay, through the company, $200,000 in tuition payments to his children’s private high school and universities.
For COVID fraud, he applied for $436,390 in relief from the Paycheck Protection Program for his other Ontario company, Western Distribution. Instead of keeping the employees at that company employed with the funds, he laid them off, and used the money to pay the salaries of employees at his Merced-based company Agri-comm Express instead, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Donald Spicer, Johansson’s safety manager and co-defendant, pleaded guilty to conspiring to make illegal repairs, and Enrique Garcia, the shop manager and co-defendant, pleaded guilty to one count of welding without required certifications. Spicer will be sentenced Feb. 6, and Garcia was sentenced to 30 months.
Case information
Case No. 5:21-cr-00170.
California Central District Judge Virginia Phillips presided.
Prosecutors Joseph Johns and Matthew O’Brien prosecuted.
Caleb Mason, Karen Sosa and Mark Werksman of Los Angeles’ Werksman Jackson and Quinn represented Johansson.
Read the indictment here.
Read the complaint here.
Read the plea deal here.
Read Johansson’s sentencing memorandum here.
Read the commitment order here.
