Former trucking kingpin sentenced

Alex Katz

NEWPORT BEACH -- A city resident who once owned an interstate trucking

empire was sentenced to 15 months in federal prison last week for his

role in the fatal explosion of a gasoline tanker in 1993, authorities

said.

Carl Bradley Johansson, 41, pleaded guilty last year to hiring welders to

repair gasoline trucks at his Montebello business, which lacked the

proper safeguards and federal permits.

Authorities said Johansson ignored repeated warnings and hired welder

Leonardo Quintero to repair a leaking tanker in 1993.

Quintero was incinerated in an explosion after climbing into the tanker

and igniting his welding torch, said Asst. U.S. Atty. William Carter.

Prosecutors believed the explosion was caused by gas fumes that had not

been properly vented from the tanker, Carter said.

“There was obviously a problem with that tanker when that individual

started to weld and it killed him,” he said.

Johansson, who owned several hazardous material trucking firms

collectively known as Atlas, also pleaded guilty to encouraging truckers

to drive more than 10 hours per day -- another violation of federal law.

Johansson admitted to falsifying his employees’ driving records to cover

up the violations, authorities said.

A task force of federal and state agencies began investigating

Johansson’s companies after an Atlas truck carrying about 10,000 gallons

of gasoline plunged off Interstate 101 and into the Ventura River in

1995. The truck exploded, killing the driver instantly.

Eight months later, another Atlas trucker died in a similar accident on

Interstate 101 in Petaluma.

Carter described Atlas as a scofflaw company where there was “a pervasive

and systematic attempt to violate federal regulations” under Johansson’s

ownership.

The manager of an Anaheim Atlas site has also been convicted of

conspiring to violate truck repair laws. Two other company managers are

facing federal charges of conspiring to violate the limit of daily

driving hours, Carter said.

Johansson, who once owned hundreds of trucks transporting fuel throughout

California and neighboring states, no longer owns any trucking companies

in California, Carter said.