A former co-owner of now-defunct Westfield Transport of West Springfield, Massachusetts, has pleaded guilty in federal court to falsifying driving logs in connection with a June 2019 collision involving one of the company’s vehicles. Seven motorcyclists died in the accident in Randolph, New Hampshire.
Dunyadar “Damien” Gasanov, 39, of West Springfield, pleaded guilty Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts to three counts of making false statements to federal investigators. He is scheduled to be sentenced in November and faces up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine, according to the plea deal reached with prosecutors. He also admitted that he had lied about how long he had known the Westfield Transport driver, Volodymyr Zhukovskyy, who was involved in the crash.
As of publication Thursday, Dunyadar Gasanov’s attorney, Peter A. Slepchuk, had not responded to FreightWaves’ request for comment.
Dunyadar Gasanov was indicted in February 2021, along with his brother, Dartanayan Gasanov, who has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial. According to Westfield Transport’s business filings with the state agency, Dartanayan Gasanov served as president, treasurer, secretary and director of the shuttered auto transport company.
“Keeping communities safe takes all forms. In this case, it is about making sure that operators of commercial vehicles adhere to all required safety procedures and regulations,” said acting U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy in a statement.
According to court documents, from May 2019 to June 23, 2019, the owners of Westfield Transport allegedly falsified driving logs “in order to evade federal regulations designed to ensure the safety of roadways and drivers.”
In court filings, Dunyadar Gasanov admitted that he had instructed at least one Westfield Transport employee to falsify records to exceed hours-of-service limits. He then “made a false statement to a federal inspector regarding the manipulation of recording devices that track drivers’ on and off duty hours in order to evade regulations,” according to federal prosecutors.
In July 2022, a jury acquitted Zhukovskyy, now 28, of killing seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club. He originally faced seven counts of negligent homicide, seven counts of manslaughter and one court of reckless conduct in the collision in rural New Hampshire. However, jurors found that the lead motorcyclist of the Jarheads, Albert “Woody” Mazza, was impaired and over the centerline of the road at the time of the collision. Zhukovskyy was driving an empty flatbed trailer at the time of the crash.
Dunyadar Gasanov also admitted that he had known Zhukovskyy for years prior to the crash and knew that the driver had been charged with operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol years before the crash, according to investigators.
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