A man who apparently reincarnated an out-of-service trucking company -- and allegedly kept operating after the chameleon company also was put out of service -- has been indicted on federal charges.


According to local media reports, Devasko Dewayne Lewis, age 33, of Cordele, Ga., was taken into federal custody and appeared before a judge for initial appearance and bond proceedings Wednesday.

Lewis and his trucking company, DDL Transport LLC, were indicted on one count of making a false statement and seven counts of continuing operation after imposition of an out-of-service order. DDL Transport, a three-truck operation, was put out of service in late September.

Lewis allegedly made a false statement in an application for motor carrier authority when he said that he not had had a relationship with another motor carrier within the last three years, despite having operated Lewis Trucking Company, a two-truck operation that had been ordered out of service in October 2008 for posing an imminent safety hazard.

The remaining seven counts allege that Lewis and DDL Transport LLC knowingly and willfully operated commercial motor vehicles in Georgia on seven occasions although they were precluded from operations based on the an imminent hazard OOS order issued because numerous recordkeeping and safety violations in their trucking operations posed an imminent threat to public safety.

A check of DDL Transport's CSA data under the Safety Measurement System shows "no violations," "inconclusive" or "insufficient data" for on-road performance of four of the five public BASICs. However, the Controlled Substances and Alcohol Basic showed a "serious violation cited within last 12 months from an investigation," and out of four vehicle inspections, the out-of-service rate was 75%. A large number of violations found during inspections included everything from frame cracked/loose/sagging/broken to tread depth less than 2/32 of an inch to inadequate brakes and worn steering system components.