Trump Pardons Wyoming Mechanic Facing Emissions Charges

President Donald Trump has granted a full and unconditional pardon to Wyoming diesel mechanic Troy Lake, a Cheyenne man convicted last year for tampering with vehicle emissions systems.

Lake, 65, had served seven months of a one-year federal prison sentence for modifying and removing emissions controls on diesel engines — a practice outlawed under federal clean air laws.

The longtime mechanic, who ran Elite Diesel Service near Cheyenne, was also fined $52,000. He’d been serving the rest of his sentence at home under electronic monitoring when the call came Friday: he was free.

The Lake family has been under federal scrutiny since 2018, when Environmental Protection Agency agents raided their shop, accusing Troy of performing “deletes” — removing or bypassing pollution-control systems in diesel trucks.

For years, Lake’s case has been a flashpoint in Wyoming, where many see the prosecution as a symbol of government overreach against small businesses and working-class tradesmen.

Sen. Lummis championed Lake’s pardon request, calling his conviction part of the “Biden administration’s weaponization against working Americans.” She pointed out that while the EPA raid happened during Trump’s term, criminal charges weren’t filed until 2022.

Lummis said Lake was punished “simply for keeping diesel engines in school buses, ambulances, and fire trucks running in our tough Western weather.”

“Calling to tell him tonight that he’d been pardoned by President Trump was a truly joyous moment,” Lummis said in a statement.

In fall 2025, Senator Cynthia Lummis launched a public effort to defend Wyoming diesel mechanic Troy Lake and push back against federal emissions prosecutions. She formally requested a presidential pardon for Lake in a September 30 letter to President Trump, then brought national attention to his case in early October by appearing with Fox News in Wyoming. Later that month, she introduced the “Diesel Truck Liberation Act,” legislation designed to curb what she called the EPA’s overreach and prevent future prosecutions of mechanics like Lake.