Wyoming’s top federal prosecutor on Wednesday dropped a felony-level case against a “delete” mechanic who was facing up to seven years in prison for removing emissions devices from diesel trucks.
Levi Krech, 31, was charged this summer with one count of conspiracy to violate the Clean Air Act, and another of tampering with a monitoring device, in the U.S. District Court of Wyoming.
He was scheduled to plead guilty Sept. 11, but that hearing was postponed.
Then on Wednesday, U.S. Attorney for Wyoming Darin Smith and Assistant U.S. Attorney Kerri Jacobson dropped the case altogether.
As far as Krech’s attorney Stewart Cables knows, it’s the first criminal emissions tampering or conspiracy to tamper case to be dismissed by a federal prosecutor in the nation, Cables told Cowboy State Daily, citing his vast experience working in this area.
Smith in a Wednesday text message to Cowboy State Daily said he had the case dismissed to honor “the best interest of the public and justice system,” and “to most effectively steward prosecutorial and judicial resources toward the most serious, readily provable offenses, as mandated under President (Donald) Trump’s Operation Take Back America initiative.”
Krech was so relieved, he stammered.
“Oh man. Wow,” said Krech, who reflected on the motion in a Wednesday phone interview with Cowboy State Daily. “I’m a little overloaded. It’s a giant pressure relief.”
According to Krech, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency started investigating him and his Gillette-born business, Unique Performance, in 2021.
About 80% of his business consisted of rescuing oilfield trucks and other work fleets from the unreliable, winter-weather breakdowns with which emissions systems can plague them, said Krech.
“You know down there in Casper (the wind) just blows and blows and blows, just nonstop,” said Krech. “The DEF fluid… when it gets on your hands it’ll burn you. It’ll give you a serious burn.”
More than that, he added, some of the trucks laden with emissions systems will “leave you stranded (though they’re) brand new. Because the DEF tank froze.”
The other 20% of Krech’s work was, he conceded, for “aftermarket enthusiasts.”
In April 2022, federal agents in bulletproof vests raided Krech’s shop, sparking small-town rumors that there had been drug activity or a murder in the shop, he said. He cast the raid as intrusive and messy.
The federal government barred him from working on any deleted trucks during the years-long investigation.
That meant he had to turn about half of his customers away, said Krech with a wry chuckle.
“It took a massive hit to our company. Massive. Really sad,” he added.
And Yet ...
Diesel trucking business owners confirmed to Cowboy State Daily in July and August that the practice is widespread.
But enforcement of it is not uniform, said Cables, who said that's a problem with the current state of emissions tampering law, and the way authorities use it.
Some delete mechanics face civil penalties. Some criminal. The standards vary wildly across the nation.
“And people like Levi and some of my other clients (should not be) forced to plead guilty or consider pleading guilty to felony charges when their conduct is much less aggravated than some of the civil cases out there,” said Cables.
Over the past five years, the federal government has tilted from pursuing civil remedies in delete cases to criminal prosecutions — a move that some environmental attorneys have argued is a misusage of the Clean Air Act.
Krech echoed the need for uniformity, saying he’s just wanted to understand all along the parameters of the law.
Well Thank You, And Thank You
Krech voiced gratitude to Smith and his office, Trump, Cheyenne-based political consultant Jeff Daugherty, Cables, Wyoming State House Speaker Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, and U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyoming.
Lummis is pushing legislation to free jailed delete mechanics and legalize the practice.
Neiman spearheaded a state House letter calling for a presidential pardon in another high-profile delete case involving a Wyoming man, Troy Lake.
Neiman also connected Krech with Daugherty, Krech said.
"Good still does exist. Good people exist still," said Krech.
Cables added to that list his own gratitude for Jacobson, calling her highly professional and easy to work with.
Krech voiced a statement to his fellow mechanics, encouraging them to find allies in the political sphere, and solid legal counsel if confronted with this issue.
Troy Lake
Troy Lake was the go-to delete mechanic for the northern Colorado and surrounding region, in the years just prior to 2020.
He was convicted of a felony last year, and sentenced to one year, one day in prison. He spent his 65th birthday and 40th wedding anniversary in a federal prison in Colorado, the federal jurisdiction that sentenced him.
He and his business Elite Diesel were also fined $52,000.
On Nov. 7, after massive outcry from many in the diesel industry and in Wyoming — plus Lummis — Trump pardoned Lake.
Then on home confinement due to early release, Lake sliced his ankle monitor off that day.
“Troy had to be the poster child,” said Krech. “You know how scary that was (being in prison)?”
Knowing that is not to be his own fate, said Krech, is “a big weight off the shoulders, and I’m absolutely stunned and deeply humbled by attorney Smith, and what a great action he’s done.”
Lake when he was pardoned said he’d like to push for change in the EPA and across the diesel industry, to show that skilled mechanics can improve emissions without crippling small businesses.
Krech said the same Wednesday.
He said he and Lake believe they can get deleted engines to federally required emissions levels; and they want to show the EPA that.
Cables said that may be a “tall order.” But if they can do it, and prove to Congress that they can do it, added Cables, they may be able to push for a carveout in the law as it’s being applied to charge criminal cases.
'The Kid'
Krech’s story unfurled differently from Lake’s.
Krech was in the criminal justice system before, for stealing tires and parts from Gillette diesel shops when he was 17 and 18 years old.
At 15 or 16, Krech said in a past interview, “I got involved with the wrong people who were street racing, stealing stuff.”
He was involved with the theft conspiracy in his latter teen years, and he was officially charged in February 2013, when he was 18.
Campbell County District Court Judge Thomas Rumpke thought it was a shame. “The kid” was too smart for such trouble.
“I do remember him,” Rumpke, who now works as an attorney rather than a judge, told Cowboy State Daily in September. “He’s really smart. (And I remember) saying something like, ‘Stop using how smart you are for criminal stuff, and go out and do something else.’”
Rumpke sentenced Krech to between four and nine years in prison, but with a recommendation for the Wyoming Youthful Offender, or “Boot Camp” program.
Younger defendants have a year maximum to complete the program, and they often circle back to their sentencing judge to ask for a sentencing reduction once they’ve done so.
So too did Krech, on Aug. 14, 2014. He’d completed boot camp well before his deadline.
Rumpke granted the sentence reduction, placing Krech on six years’ probation, with the threat of his original prison sentence hanging over him if he failed probation.
Rumpke made the probation term rigorous.
The judge ordered Krech to go to college, complete and intense supervised probation program; avoid alcohol and bars, stay out of trouble, avoid his co-defendants and the shop owners from whom he’d stolen parts — and finish paying restitution.
Krech did pay $36,340 in restitution, court documents say.
Krech wore an ankle monitor for a year.
One year after being placed on probation, Krech started his own diesel shop in Gillette: Unique Performance.
On Jan. 1, 2017, Krech successfully completed the diesel technology program at Gillette Community College.
“The judge loved that,” Krech recalled.
Though those were hard years, he said, he hopes it’s proof to others that a person can turn his life around.
The System Sometimes Works
Parts company Freedom Racing Engines featured Krech’s “student build” when he was 21. Krech’s projects have since been featured in MotorTrend and Diesel Army.
He recently moved Unique Performance to Sturgis, where the motorhead culture suits him well, he said in an earlier interview.
Rumpke declined in September to comment on Krech’s recent federal case.
But referencing Krech’s ascent to success after his time in Rumpke’s court, the former judge said “I’m very, very proud of him. It shows the system sometimes works, and he’s a great shining example of that.”
Scaling Back In These Ways
Deleting emissions devices is still illegal, and many prosecutors treat it as a crime.
But Lake’s pardon and Krech’s dismissal also could signal a shift from the White House and other governmental spheres.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Feb. 5 issued a notice to all U.S. Department of Justice employees, warning against pursuing criminal charges where not “appropriate.”
The EPA in July announced a plan to relax rules regarding tailpipe emissions.
And the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform discussed the exact issue in September: contemplating whether the federal government should criminalize diesel delete “tunes” or take a lighter touch.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
