WRPS lay 76 charges against man accused of issuing falsified safety inspections
Posted Apr 6, 2018 12:07:20 PM.
Last Updated Apr 6, 2018 05:27:05 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Regional Police say they don’t know how many commercial trucks are on the roads with falsified safety certificates obtained from our region.
Over 70 charges have now been laid against a 39-year-old man accused of the theft and forgery of these certificates to make money.
Police says they started investigating last June, when a quantity of Annual Inspection Certificates and Safety Standards Certificates were reported missing from a Kitchener repair shop where the accused previously worked.
Police allege the man stole the certificates and signed the names of different mechanics, falsifying safety inspections for at least eight trucking companies.
Staff Sgt Mike Hinsperger says to date, 135 Annual Inspection Certificates and 59 Safety Standards Certificates have been seized, but there’s no way of knowing how many more might be floating around in the province.
“How many vehicles are involved, we just don’t know to what extent, or the number of charges that may additionally come out of this,” says Hinsperger. “I expect the more vehicles we stop and check, we’re going to start coming across more of them on the roadside inspections, and we’ll have to deal with those at the time we come across them.”
The companies involved are both local and from abroad, and Hinsperger says he believes they would have known they were receiving false safety’s.
“When we’re dealing with the companies that have received the certificates, those safety’s are no longer valid and never were valid,” Hinsperger says. “It’s extremely concerning knowing that there’s vehicles out there that were purposely put on the road with falsified safety’s and operating with unsafe equipment.”
The accused also worked at a repair shop in Palmerston, and police are still investigating how many certificates are missing from there.
The certificates are the property of the Ministry of Transportation, and are required under the Highway Traffic Act and National Safety Code.
An MTO spokesperson tells 570 NEWS the agency “will continue to support the investigation as required.”
