75°F
weather icon Clear
Las Vegas, NV
Courts

Clark County man gets house arrest for five months for faking smog tests

March 4, 2011 - 2:00 am
 

A Clark County man who failed to surrender to U.S. authorities for a criminal violation of the Clean Air Act was sentenced Monday to five months home detention and three years probation for falsifying smog emission tests.

Joseph DeMatteo also was ordered to pay a $100 special assessment to U.S. District Court in Las Vegas, according to a release from the Environmental Protection Agency.

He was one of 10 state certified emissions testers indicted Jan. 6, 2010, by a federal grand jury on one felony count each for falsifying vehicle emission test reports between November 2007 and May 2009.

When DeMatteo failed to surrender, he was put on the EPA fugitive list. He was arrested June 8 in Las Vegas by special agents working on a tip received by the EPA.

In October, he pleaded guilty to making a false statement in violation of the Clean Air Act.

THE LATEST
 
Longtime Nevada federal judge dies after struck by vehicle
By Estelle Atkinson / RJ

Senior U.S. District Judge Larry Hicks died after he was hit by a vehicle near the district courthouse in downtown Reno, the Reno Police Department said. He was 80.