Impact Magazine June 2011 - Office of Inspector General - U.S. ...

TRANSPORTATION SAFETY CRIMES
Trucker Convicted of Logbook Fraud
Following Trafc Death
By Michael Waters, Assistant Special Agent in Charge, Region 2 (King of Prussia, PA)
On January 20, 2009, long-haul trucker Valerijs Belovs
embarked on a cross-country trip from Guadalupe, California,
to deliver broccoli to produce markets in south Philadelphia and
New Jersey. He arrived in the Philadelphia area on the morning
of January 23. Traveling east on the Schuylkill Expressway-
Route 76, Belovs rounded a curve and quickly came upon
stopped, rush hour traffc. He applied the brakes to no avail,
and his 74,000-pound Kenworth tractor trailer smashed into the
stopped vehicles at 9:15 a.m.
Six vehicles crumpled, including an Infniti driven by
David Schreffer of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Mr. Schreffer
died on impact. His passenger, Joseph Maylish, suffered
a broken pelvis, broken ribs and vertebrae, a punctured lung,
IMPACT Magazine • June 2011
and permanent loss of vision in one eye. Four other commuters
were rushed to area hospitals. It was reported that Belovs was
seen on his hands and knees with a Bible in his hands following
the crash.
Accident scene investigators impounded the truck and
later determined that all of the truck’s brakes were severely
worn, despite the fact that the rig showed current inspection
stickers. They also discovered that Belovs drove the Kenworth
truck for the rig’s owner, Victor Kilinitchii, who owned up to
three trucks that he leased to drivers. It was discovered that just
7 weeks prior to the accident, Pratt Auto, located in Philadelphia,
had issued new inspection stickers for the Kenworth truck.
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