Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2014 | 9 p.m.
A former emissions inspector in Las Vegas was sentenced to six months in prison after he falsified the smog test results of more than 1,000 vehicles, U.S. Attorney for Nevada Daniel Bogden announced today.
Henry Alberto Batista, 30, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement to a government agency in March. He also faces six months of home confinement and three years of supervised release. Batista must report to prison by Oct. 3.
His brother, Luis Batista, pleaded guilty to the same charge and was sentenced in May to time served and three years of supervised release, U.S. attorney officials said.
After serving about seven months, he is now on home confinement.
Alberto Batista, who was a licensed Nevada emissions inspector, knowingly made false material statements, representations or certifications to the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles in about 1,600 records from July 2009 to Dec. 19, 2012, officials said.
He falsified emissions certificates for cars that couldn't pass the smog test by using substitute cars that would pass or by using a computer programmed emulator to trick the emissions analyzer into accepting data for the car that couldn't pass, officials said.
The case came to light in 2008 when the Nevada DMV hired a contractor to build an identification database for cars in an effort to find possible emissions testing fraud.
In 2008, the DMV discovered that more than 4,000 false car emissions certificates had been issued in Las Vegas, officials said.
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