A South Dakota trucking company and its president found out that forcing a driver to falsify a logbook and trying to cover-up HOS violations lead to stiff fines and probation.

Action Carrier Inc. and its president were ordered to pay more than $325,000 in fines and restitution in a sentencing hearing. The president and company entered guilty pleas on charges of falsifying logbooks and covering up hours-of-service violations.

Action Carrier Inc. and its president, Michael L. Walsh, were sentenced Sept. 22 in the U.S. District Court in Sioux Falls.

Action Carrier was fined $200,000 and Walsh was ordered to pay $126,488 in restitution and fined $2,000. Both Action Carrier and Walsh were sentenced to five years probation, with the first six months of Walsh’s probation designated as home confinement.

If company representatives are found violating the law in any way, company officials face returning to court and the possibility of further penalties, according to a spokesman with the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General.

On June 7, representatives of Action Carrier pleaded guilty to a felony charge of causing a truck driver to falsify logbook entries in order to conceal violations of the HOS regulations.

Walsh pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of obstruction of justice for refusing to allow an inspector with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration take possession of a file during a compliance review inspection.