VAN NUYS : Smog-Test Operator to Face Arraignment
The owner of a Van Nuys automotive repair shop was ordered to stand trial Thursday on charges of illegally providing smog certificates to vehicles that could not pass the stringent state air pollution test.
Jose Luis Torres, 29, of Anaheim is scheduled to be arraigned Oct. 21 in Van Nuys Superior Court on 12 felony counts.
Torres, who runs Valley Smog on Kester Avenue, bypassed state regulations by “clean piping” cars, according to testimony given Thursday during a preliminary hearing.
Clean piping is a term used by state investigators to describe how some unscrupulous testers at state-authorized Smog Check facilities use a special clean-running car in place of a customer’s car to fool computerized smog test machines.
Investigators with the state Bureau of Automotive Repair, an agency under the Department of Consumer Affairs, began a surveillance operation at Valley Smog on March 22 after a citizen filed a complaint.
Torres, who is being held in lieu of $25,000 bail, is charged with perjury, filing false documents and forging registration documents.
The operators of another Van Nuys smog check station, Stewart’s Electronic Tuneup, were sentenced in August to one year in jail for issuing phony smog certificates. Keith and Brian Ammerman, who were clean piping automobiles, received the stiffest sentence handed down under a recent crackdown on fraudulent Smog Check stations.
Torres could be sentenced to eight years in state prison if convicted on all charges, according to Deputy Dist. Atty. Renee F. Urman.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
