Auto importer guilty of safety violations

Auto importer guilty of safety violations    A former Orange County, Calif., sheriff's deputy, who operated several now-defunct auto businesses, has agreed to plead guilty to federal charges of illegally importing Japanese muscle cars and selling them to sports car enthusiasts and collectors, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
   Daryl Alison is accused of removing markings from an imported vehicle, a misdemeanor. Kaizo Industries, his former company, is charged with a felony for failing to file the required paperwork on the imported vehicles in violation of the Clean Air Act.
   Kaizo Industries imported disassembled Nissan Skylines and other Japanese right-hand drive cars made popular in the Fast & Furious movies into California and sold them even though they did not comply with U.S. environmental and safety regulations.
   The charges were the result of an investigation by ICE, the Environmental Protection Agency's Criminal Investigations Division, the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the California Air Resources Board.
   ICE said that as part of the scheme, the Skylines were imported in two shipments — the car body in one container and the vehicle drivetrain in another. The bodies, which were not modified to comply with DOT regulations, were then paired with their original drivetrains and sold to the public. The defendants allegedly put bogus 17-digit Vehicle Identification Numbers on the cars in place of the actual Nissan VIN plate so the vehicles could be registered in the United States. To avoid California's stricter registration and emission requirements, many of the cars were registered out of the sate and sold to California residents with Florida and Arizona plates.
   ICE and CBP seized 12 cars worth more than $450,000 during the investigation that began in June 2009.
   Federal agencies increasingly are collaborating in the area of import safety following a series of incidents in which contaminated or adulterated products from overseas were recalled in 2007.