Long-Haul Crime Log

Hundreds of trucking companies have been allegedly defrauded in an elaborate scheme utilizing a controversial practice called double-brokering. After months of investigating, co-host Clarissa Hawes got a tip that led to a series of bizarre phone calls with the man who owned a freight brokerage at the center of the operation. He told her: “You've got a lot of angry people … trying to find out who is trying to find them, who is trying to hurt their kids, their families.” 

Our latest episode wades into Hawes' investigation into a network of companies in Southern California connected to the scheme, and her efforts to find the people responsible for it. It led her to a transportation executive named Steve Avetyan, who once boasted of handing out Rolex watches — he called them “Rollies” —  as bonuses to his best sales staff. Avetyan claimed to be someone else when Hawes first called him. He eventually admitted to being Avetyan, but denied any involvement in the double-brokering network. 

Co-host and producer Nate Tabak joines Hawes for the episode.

Read more

Former employees shed light on sophisticated double-brokering network

Freight fraud: Burgeoning double-brokering scheme like ‘whack-a-mole’

CEO denies ties to sophisticated double-brokering scheme in Southern California

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Seizures of drugs from tractor-trailers are a regular occurrence at the U.S. borders with Mexico and Canada. Lawyer Su Ross, a partner with MSK in Los Angeles who specializes in compliance issues, says the drivers caught with these illicit loads are often unaware of what they were hauling. Ross talks with Long-Haul Crime Log co-host Nate Tabak during the FreightWaves Small Fleet and Owner-Operator summit.

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In April 2013, agents from the FBI and IRS raided the Knoxville headquarters of the largest truck stop chain in the United States: Pilot Flying J. It was part of a massive investigation into a fuel rebate scam. In all, fourteen former Pilot employees pleaded guilty for their roles in what was known as “jacking the discount.” But eight years later, the story is far from over as the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals overturns the convictions of former Pilot president Mark Hazelwood and two of his staffers, who are still fighting to clear their names. 

They allege they were victims of reverse racism. Co-host Clarissa Hawes delves into the latest developments as Hazelwood and two members of his team prepare for a second trial in the fuel rebate scam that rocked the truck stop dynasty. Allegations of racism – and reverse racism – are looming large in the case to this day. 

Co-host and producer Nate Tabak joins Hawes for the episode.

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Co-host and reporter Noi Mahoney recently spent some time with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection personnel in the U.S.-Mexico border in Laredo, Texas. Officially, he was there to report on legal produce imports from Mexico. But he learned some things about the massive shipments of illegal drugs that CBP intercepts from trucks on a regular basis. 

In the latest episode, Mahoney explains what he found about drug smuggling during his Laredo trip, and why the illicit shipments have increased in size and frequency during the pandemic. Despite this, Mahnoey says the traffickers are contending with a backlog of drugs waiting to be smuggled across the border. 

Co-host and producer Nate Tabak joins Mahoney for the episode. 

Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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Two Canadian truck drivers in their 20s are facing charges in North Dakota over a $4.5 million load of marijuana intercepted at the U.S. border. Co-host and producer Nate Tabak explains why he’s looking into the case – which has some unusual aspects.

The drivers were arrested on April 23 after U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers discovered the marijuana while inspecting what was supposed to be a load of straw at the U.S-Canada border in Pembina, North Dakota.

In an unusual turn for a border drug case, border officers turned the truckers over to the county sheriff to face state charges. Tabak is looking into why this happened. Also unusual: is the young age of one driver - one is 21 years old, according to court records. 

Co-host and fellow FreightWaves reporter Noi Mahoney joins Tabak for the episode. 

Read more: 2 truckers face prosecution after $4.5M marijuana seizure at US-Canada border - FreightWaves

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It’s a troubling case: Two truck drivers accused of kidnapping women and then forcing them into prostitution or holding them for ransom. 

Yet somehow, Brian T. Summerson, 25, and Pierre Washington, 35, were able to secure their freedom relatively easily during two points of the investigation by the FBI. 

In the latest episode of FreightWaves’ true-crime podcast, Long-Haul Crime Log, co-host and investigative reporter Clarissa Hawes looks into the case and the uncomfortable questions that the FBI wouldn’t answer.

She also looks into the drivers themselves and their activities in the trucking industry. That includes the company Washington owns, God Got Me.  

Joining Hawes in the episode, co-host and producer Nate Tabak.

Read more: 2 truckers charged in kidnapping-for-ransom scheme

Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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In 2017, a group of trucking and logistics company owners met in Nogales, Arizona. They were worried because federal authorities had begun enforcing regulations that bar Mexican truck drivers with B-1 visas from hauling cargo within the U.S. 

“Long story short, if we don’t fix this soon, 100 companies will close,” Jimmy Watson Jr. told Nogales International newspaper. The next year his father was arrested and charged with illegally employing drivers from Mexico.

This week’s episode of Long-Haul Crime Log investigates one of the most controversial issues in cross-border trucking: cabotage violations. In the U.S., these occur when truck drivers based in Mexico or Canada illegally transport domestic freight. Co-host and FreightWaves reporter Noi Mahoney digs into recent allegations that truckers from Mexico are doing illegal runs within the U.S, and why it may be hurting the industry on both sides of the border.

Fellow reporters Clarissa Hawes and Nate Tabak co-host the episode with Mahoney.

Read more: 

Sources: Mexican B-1 visa truckers conducting illegal runs in US

Can foreign-based trucks haul domestic US freight?

Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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They came to the United States from Eastern Europe with the promise of earning good money working in the trucking industry. Instead, these truckers found themselves trapped in an alleged immigration scheme hauling cars across the U.S. seven days a week, sometimes driving up to 20 hours a day – with getting paid a fraction of what they were owed. 

 

This week’s episode of Long-Haul Crime Log investigates allegations from drivers who say they were lured from Eastern Europe to what they thought were lucrative jobs transporting cars. The reality involved working dangerously long hours for little pay in a shadowy corner of the trucking industry. In some cases, they were afraid for their lives. 

 

Freightwaves investigative journalist Clarissa Hawes explores the stories of these drivers and the allegations against the owners of a group of trucking companies, Dmitriy and Inna Chebanenko. Hawes explains how one driver’s decision to go public with his allegations against the Chebanenkos led other drivers to come forward. 

 

The episode is hosted by Hawes and fellow reporters Nate Tabak and Noi Mahoney. 

 

Read more: Driver says trucking company threatened family after he alleged illegal practices

 

Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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Grace Sharkey was working as a freight broker in 2018, when she had found a truck to haul a $60,000 load of tires from Los Angeles to Alaska. But something strange happened after the cargo got picked up. The driver started going to the opposite corner of the country – to Miami. Someone was trying to steal the load, and Sharkey was determined to stop it.

This week’s episode tells the story of how Sharkey and her colleagues foiled the cargo theft. We explore how the crime itself happened nowhere near the truck itself. Instead, the criminals engaged in the practice of double-brokering to attempt to steal the load and pocket the money.

FreightWaves journalists Nate Tabak and Clarissa Hawes co-host the episode. They interview Sharkey, who recently joined FreightWaves as a reporter.  

Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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On Feb. 13, U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Cincinnati were checking a shipment of corn flakes from Peru, when suddenly Bico, a narcotics K-9, alerted agents that something was amiss.

The corn flakes were frosted with something else besides sugar – they were coated with cocaine. In all, agents would find about 44 pounds of cocaine-coated corn flakes, worth about $2.8 million. 

Long-Haul Crime Log tells the story of how the cocaine ‘frosted’ corn flakes were shipped from Peru, en route to Hong Kong, and seized in Cincinnati. The story involves international cargo carriers, express consignment facilities and customs agents who work tirelessly to keep drugs off the streets.

This week’s episode is hosted by FreighWaves journalists Nate Tabak and Noi. Reach out at [email protected] or find us on Twitter @LongHaulCrime.

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