LOS ANGELES – The owner of several Inland Empire-based trucking companies was sentenced today to 120 months in federal prison for ordering the illegal repair of a tanker that resulted in an explosion and the death of one his employees – the second time one of his welders was killed.
Carl Bradley Johansson, 64, of Newport Beach, was also sentenced for tax evasion and fraudulently obtaining approximately $954,417 in COVID-relief money while free on bond in the tanker explosion case.
Johansson was sentenced by United States District Judge Virginia A. Phillips, who also ordered Johansson to pay $1,252,979 in restitution to two banks and the IRS.
Johansson pleaded guilty in September 2021 to two felony counts in relation to the tank explosion – one count of conspiring to make illegal repairs on the cargo tanks and to defraud the United States Department of Transportation, and one count of welding without required certifications. He also pleaded guilty to one count of tax evasion, one count of conspiracy to commit bank fraud and one count of bank fraud. Johansson admitted that he committed the bank fraud offenses stemming from the PPP scam while he was on pretrial release in the tanker explosion case. Johansson has been in custody since his arrest on the PPP charges in July 2021.
Tanker Explosion Case
Johansson controlled and operated two Corona-based…
