The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Troubled trucking firm faces scrutiny
Driver charged in deadly human smuggling case.
IOWA CITY, IOWA — The trucking company linked to the recent deadly human smuggling case in Texas had promoted itself as an American success: a family firm whose hard-working drivers helped keep the U.S. economy running.
But behind that image was a cutthroat business that flouted federal laws for years, yet managed to stay afloat despite financial troubles and tangles with prosecutors, regulators and tax collectors, according to public records and interviews with former drivers.
Now, Pyle Transportation faces the biggest threat to its survival yet after one of its contract drivers was charged Monday in the deaths of 10 immigrants found in a sweltering Pyle trailer parked in San Antonio’s 100-degree heat.
Investigators are scrutinizing Pyle’s claim that it knew nothing about a smuggling operation that federal authorities have described as sophisticated and possibly linked to a Mexican cartel. Federal regulators have launched an investigation into the company’s safety record.
The driver, 60-year-old James “Bear” Bradley Jr., has told investigators he was unaware any immigrants were in the trailer, saying he heard their pleas after stopping Sunday at a Walmart to use the bathroom. Investigators say dozens of immigrants had been packed into the trailer and were smuggled across the border.
Company owner Brian Pyle has denied any knowledge of human smuggling,
but declined to comment Monday on the company’s operations and did not return additional messages left Thursday.
On its website, which has since been taken down, Pyle Transportation advertised its fleet of high-end rigs and boasted of delivering refrigerated shipments of meat and produce on time to customers from its rural Iowa base. Playing upbeat music and flashing photos of smiling truckers, the site touted love of country, faith in God and the company’s slogan: “Keepin’ it Cool Since 1950.”
Yet former drivers said in interviews the company routinely pushed them to violate federal safety rules. They said they were pressured to drive beyond allowed hours without rest, to falsify their logs to conceal those violations and to transport overweight loads on unrealistic deadlines.
They also said they faced retaliation if they complained and that Pyle refused to pay
s they were owed when they quit.
Two of Bradley’s former Pyle colleagues were stunned to learn about the deaths and said they were struggling to understand what happened.
“Knowing Bear, the pieces don’t fit,” said Paul Terry, 68, of Denver. “I believe Bear was set up. He is a country boy and he don’t know that much. No way in the world could he orchestrate something like that. I will say that on my kids’ grave.”
Former driver Tim Moffitt said Thursday that he believed the company had to have some knowledge of the operation, calling it a good place to work only “if you don’t like rules.”
“They are always looking for ways to save money and make money,” said Moffitt, who has known Bradley for 30 years.
Brian Pyle said Monday that the company had sold the trailer and hired Bradley as a contractor to drive it to the border city of Brownsville, Texas, to deliver it to the buyer, whom he refused to identify. He showed a reporter what he said was a bill of sale dated May 10 did not list a price.
Bradley told investigators he was unaware of the trailer’s contents, adding that he knew its refrigeration system didn’t work, according to the complaint against him. He described taking a looping route with stops in Laredo and San Antonio, several hours west of Brownsville.
Pyle said Bradley was given an address and told to deliver the trailer July 21, disputing Bradley’s claim to investigators that he had been given neither a location nor a time to make the delivery.
The company’s relationship with Bradley was reflected on its now-defunct website, where he was pictured smiling with Pyle in its “Hall of Fame” of workers.
Pyle Transportation has long been an influential company in Schaller, a northwest Iowa town of 750 that doesn’t have a police officer. Residents say the company was run by the late Don Pyle before it was passed to his son, Michael.
The son and his Pyle Truck Lines pleaded guilty in 2001 to falsifying Department of Transportation records and were put on probation. Michael Pyle’s children took control of the business a few years later when Pyle Transportation formed, but he remained involved. Michael Pyle declined comment, hanging up on a reporter who called Thursday.
The IRS alleged in 2015 that Pyle Transportation refused to pay employment and highway use taxes for years, racking up $150,000 in liabilities.
The company has also been ordered to pay penalties for falsifying records on drivers’ hours and has been operating with a “conditional” safety rating, meaning it had been out of compliance with regulations.