Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair Owner Indicted On Multiple Counts

A federal grand jury last week issued an indictment against Chris Carroll, owner of Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair of Bourbon.

Carroll was indicted on three counts of bank fraud, six counts of money laundering and three counts of making false statements of a financial institution. 

Carroll’s company — Square One Group — was the recipient of two fraudulent Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loans, one for more than $1.2 million and another for more than $1.6 million.

In addition, the indictment alleges that Carroll and Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair violated the Clean Air Act by unlawfully removing the emissions control systems from more than 30 diesel-fueled trucks, which caused the trucks to release between 30 and 300 more pollutants.

Carroll allegedly asked his employees to “take the fall” for the violations and when one of the employees indicated he would cooperate with federal investigators, Carroll threatened not to pay his attorney.

The indictment alleges that Carroll and business partner George Reed submitted PPP loan applications in their spouses’ names, rather than their own names, to misrepresent and conceal Carroll’s status as a paroled felon, which would have precluded his company from receiving PPP funds. It is further alleged, that Carroll and Reed did not use the funds to compensate their employees, but instead, used the funds to start a trucking company called Whiskey Dix Big Truck Repair and to fund $660,000 in payments to themselves. The superseding indictment further alleges that the company suspended their employees’ pay and health insurance coverage after applying for PPP funds.

With regards to the Clean Air Act violations, Lance Ehrig, of the EPA’s criminal investigation program in Missouri, said in a press release that removing the devices “not only worsens air quality, but harms people’s health, in particular people with respiratory conditions like asthma and COPD, so when these illegal trucks travel through neighborhoods they are creating serious health problems for residents.”

Charges set forth in the superseding indictment are merely accusations and do not constitute proof of guilt. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent unless and until proven guilty.

The case was investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the US Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigation Division.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Gwendolyn Carroll and Matthew Drake are handling the case.