Summary

On January 17, 2014, Wisla Express, LLC (Wisla), New Britain, Connecticut, was sentenced in United States District Court, Hartford, Connecticut, to 5 years’ probation and a $75,000 fine in connection with its role in presenting falsified documents to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA). Wisla's owner Elzbieta Szteborowski and manager Dariusz Szteborowski were ordered to divest themselves of all ownership interests in Wisla and may not reacquire any ownership interests during the duration of Wisla's probation. Dariusz Szteborowski is not permitted to work for Wisla during the probation period.

Wisla is a commercial passenger carrier operating vans, mini-buses, and tour buses. Wisla's office Manager, Dariusz Szteborowski, of Rocky Hill, Connecticut, previously entered a guilty plea in connection with the scheme.

The investigation disclosed that Szteborowski created and maintained false and fraudulent driver time records or caused others to create false and fraudulent driver logs in order to meet the prescribed reporting requirements. Szteborowski and others working with and for Szteborowski and Wisla often assigned drivers to trips knowing that the drivers would be exceeding the regulated limits of on-duty driving time. In order to hide these violations from FMCSA inspectors, Szteborowski instructed the drivers and/or other Wisla employees to record falsely in the logs that the driver was off-duty during those times, and then Szteborowski submitted the falsified logs to FMCSA during its inspection.

The investigation was conducted with assistance from FMCSA.