Philadelphia Trucker Who Caused Deadly 2009 Accident Sentenced for Falsifying Logbooks

According to a release issued by the U.S. Attorney's Office, Valerijs Nikolaevich Belovs, 58, of Philadelphia, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for 15 counts of making false statements in connection with falsified commercial truck driver log books.

Belovs pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2011. In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge James Knoll Gardner ordered Belovs to pay a fine of $1,000 and a special assessment of $1,500. Belovs is also prohibited from operating a commercial vehicle without express permission from the court.

Between Dec. 20, 2008 and Jan. 23, 2009, Belovs falsified his federally-required driver daily logbooks 15 times to conceal the fact that he was driving in excess of the lawful number of allowable driving hours without the required period of rest. For example, on Jan. 22, 2009, the defendant stated that he was in a sleeper berth in Wyethville, Virginia, when he was actually driving to Pennsylvania. 

On Jan. 23, 2009, at approximately 9:25 a.m., Belovs caused a multi-vehicle crash on the eastbound Schuylkill Expressway (I-76) near the Conshohocken curve during rush hour traffic. Belovs struck another vehicle killing the driver and seriously injuring the passenger. 

Commercial truck drivers must certify the truthfulness and accuracy of the logbooks, which are inspected by the United States Department of Transportation.  Inspection of logbooks is allegedly conducted to ensure that, among other things, truck drivers have not exceeded the 11 hour maximum allowable daily driving hours without having the required 10 consecutive hours of rest or off-duty time. This is to ensure that truck drivers operate their multi-ton trucks in a safe, unimpaired manner to protect the public from commercial trucking-related accidents on the nation’s highways.        

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Robert Reed.

See ABC Action News' coverage in the video above.