Truck Firm Searched After Crashes

State and federal agents Wednesday searched offices and other buildings belonging to a Paramount-based trucking company that lost a vehicle last December in a spectacular Ventura County crash that killed the driver and unleashed a massive fireball fueled by 8,000 gallons of gasoline.

That accident was one of at least two recent fatalities for the company, Atlas Bulk Inc. In addition to the December crash in Ventura, an accident in Petaluma last week started a similar fire and cost the driver his life. The Petaluma crash spilled 9,000 gallons of gasoline.

Atlas Bulk Inc. is a major shipping firm and transporter of hazardous materials. The searches conducted Wednesday appeared aimed at determining whether corporate officials had falsified work and inspection records. Brad Johansson, president of Atlas Bulk, said authorities had arrived at several of his company offices seeking records, and he stressed that the company was cooperating.

“We had a fatality accident and we’re under investigation,” said Johansson, who described the inquiry as a routine response to the Petaluma crash. “This is more or less standard procedure.”

Sources close to the case said authorities are investigating to determine, among other things, whether the company overworked its drivers, then doctored records to disguise the practice.

Copies of the search warrants showed that among the documents being sought were inspection reports for the company’s trucks and logs documenting the work hours of its employees. Authorities also were given permission to seize training records, accident reports and shipping manifests, as well as the names, addresses and telephone numbers of all Atlas employees.

John Hoos, a spokesman for the Los Angeles office of the FBI, would not comment on the searches, which were performed by FBI agents, California Highway Patrol officers and representatives of the federal Department of Transportation.

Hoos said the affidavit in support of the search warrants was sealed.

A CHP spokeswoman in Sacramento also declined to comment, saying only that six businesses and one residence were searched.

The searches and investigation into Atlas come at a difficult time for the company. It has lost two drivers to accidents in seven months, and both have been in dramatic, fiery crashes.

In the December accident, 23-year-old Carlos Humbert Alonzo lost control of his truck. It rolled off the roadway and over the railing, then dropped into the dry Ventura River bottom and exploded.

The truck was carrying more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline, and officials estimated that half of that burned, touching off a small brush fire, while the rest seeped into the soil. It took more than six weeks to clean up the contaminated site.

Then on July 4, an Atlas truck exiting Highway 101 in Petaluma crashed, dumping its load of gasoline onto the asphalt. The driver of that truck, 25-year-old Michael Scott Benoit of Martinez, was killed in the fire.

A CHP official said the truck appeared to be traveling too quickly on the off-ramp.

Although those two accidents came in the same area, Atlas is a far-flung operation, with offices throughout Southern California, as well as in Northern California, San Diego, Chico and elsewhere.

Warrants for the searches show that Atlas offices and other facilities were searched in Paramount, Montebello, Bakersfield, Saticoy, Paso Robles and Templeton.

According to the warrants, information was being sought for possible violations of two federal statutes, one of which governs the transport of hazardous materials. The other makes it an offense to knowingly falsify statements or records.

No arrests were announced, but the statutes cited in the warrants carry possible jail terms as well as fines.

The case has been assigned to a federal prosecutor based in the Central District of California. Theprosecutor, Assistant U.S. Atty. William Carter, confirmed that seven locations were searched Wednesday, but would not say more about the case.

Johansson, the company president, said he expected the investigation to be concluded quickly and that the company would be cleared of any wrongdoing.