Update: What’s in the indictment? Charges against Texas trucking company owner quickly sealed

(The original article has been updated to include additional information. John Kingston contributed to the revised article).

WASHINGTON – A Texas trucking company owner was indicted by a federal grand jury earlier this month, with the indictment being almost immediately sealed and only a broad outline of the charges described in a Department of Justice press release.

The indictment against Shaquan Jermaine Jelks was entered into the docket for the federal district court for the Southern District of Texas on June 12, five days before Jelks was arrested. 

On the same day the indictment was handed down by a federal grand jury, the U.S. Attorney’s office asked that the indictment be sealed. That motion was granted the same day.

A press release issued Friday said the indictment was “unsealed” that day. However, the indictment sheet as of Monday afternoon, which could have greater details of what Jelks is charged with, could still not be accessed through the PACER federal court document system.

The press release does lay out a broad description of some of the charges in the indictment, without specifying the specific statutes that Jelks is charged with violating. A similar overview of the charges can be found in a decision Monday by a federal magistrate ordering that Jelks be held in detention. 

According to the Justice Department’s statement, Jelks “managed and controlled multiple commercial trucking companies after being ordered not to do so by a federal court and (FMCSA).”

Jelks, according to the Justice Department statement, “repeatedly lied to and obstructed FMCSA,” particularly in the wake of a crash that killed one of his company’s drivers in February 2022. 

And in what is a common theme in indictments involving trucking companies, Jelks is charged with diverting Paycheck Protection Program funds away from his companies and “relying on fraud to finance his illegal trucking companies.”

Violating Out of Service orders

According to the decision of federal magistrate Christina Bryan citing evidence in earlier hearings connected to the case, Jelks violated a court injunction and two Out of Service orders from FMCSA.

Jelks had been president of Adversity Transport Inc., according to a February 2022 imminent hazard operation out of service order issued by FMCSA against an affiliated trucking company, 4 Life Transport Corp.

“FMCSA contacted Adversity numerous times in late October and early November 2021 to conduct an investigation of its motor carrier operations,” the agency’s order states, and the carrier was subsequently placed out-of-service for failure to comply.

FMCSA noted in the order that between mid-November 2021 and early December 2021 at least six drivers for Adversity Transport began operating for 4 Life Transport, “a reincarnate or affiliate of Adversity operated to avoid FMCSA orders, statutory and regulatory requirements, enforcement actions, and/or negative compliance history.”

The order, which listed several safety violations against 4 Life Transport, stated that Adversity was served with an imminent hazard operations out-of-service order in January 2022 due to hours-of-service and vehicle maintenance violations.

It also noted that the truck and trailer involved in the February 2022 fatal crash cited in Jelks’ indictment had been operated by Adversity in December 2021.

A request Monday to keep Jelks in detention revealed more details on his interactions with FMCSA that were part of the reason he was indicted.

According to the Bryan order, Jelks “(continued) to operate commercial motor vehicles after his operations had been declared an imminent hazard.”

Judge Bryan said Jelks submitted false documents to various government agencies “on multiple occasions.”

“Mr. Jelks’ own conduct–the flagrant violation of an injunction from this Court and of two Imminent Hazard Operations from the DOT–demonstrates that there are no conditions this Court can set to address the danger to the community with any expectation that Mr. Jelks will follow those conditions,” Judge Bryan wrote.

The government’s request for the indictment to be sealed was based on the interim period between the grand jury action and Jelks’ actual request, which took place June 17.

Prior murder conviction

The request reveals that Jelks already has been convicted of murder in 1997. It also cited concerns that he would intimidate his wife, as Jelks had indicated to her that he was concerned she was cooperating with the ongoing grand jury investigation that was also cited by the government as a reason for the sealing of the indictment. Joseph Harris, special agent-in-charge of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General’s Southern Region, added that “people have every right to expect that trucking companies follow the highest safety standards when using our public roads. Today’s announcement shows our continued commitment to holding commercial operators accountable – especially those who put profits ahead of public safety by disregarding key DOT regulations.”

Related articles:

• Florida arrests eight for driver’s license fraud targeting illegal migrants
• FMCSA streamlines regulations on truck routing, civil penalties
• Lawmakers look at expanding FMCSA’s power to rein in cargo theft

Click for more FreightWaves articles by John Gallagher.

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