‘Diesel Brothers’ star says he feels ‘vindicated’ after being released from federal custody

SALT LAKE CITY — David William Sparks, also known as “Heavy D” from the TV show “Diesel Brothers,” says he feels “vindicated” after being released from federal custody.

Sparks, 40, of Bountiful, took to social media over the weekend to go on the offensive against lawyers representing the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment group.

The dispute dates back to 2017 when the physicians group — a private group and not a state regulator — sued several people, including Sparks and Sparks Motors LLC, under the Clean Air Act. They claimed Sparks tampered with emissions devices on diesel trucks. The original lawsuit was for $114 million and the Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment group won.

But Sparks appealed, and the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in 2021 that he and his codefendants were responsible for paying more than $843,000 in fees.

“Over three years later, after defendants had failed to pay any amount to plaintiff under the fees order, the court found all defendants in contempt on June 24, 2024, for their noncompliance,” according to documents filed in federal court on Oct. 2.

The judge in the case issued a warrant for Sparks’ arrest on Oct. 2. Sparks was taken into custody on Oct. 7, and a contempt hearing was held on Thursday in federal court.

According to the court docket entry, during a break in hearing, “the parties met and conferred and reached a stipulation about disclosures to be made by defendants to plaintiff within 10 days of today’s hearing. Based on that stipulation, the court orders Mr. Sparks released from custody today and will issue a release order. Court was adjourned.”

After being released from custody, Sparks took to social media to “set the record straight.”

“This was not about me refusing to pay money that I rightfully owed. This was about standing up to a broken system that has been hijacked by bad actors, mostly lawyers, who have learned how to twist environmental laws into personal profit machines. Here’s what’s happened: They used those laws to chase blank checks of attorneys’ fees, weaponizing the process itself. And if I didn’t fight back, it would just leave this door open for them to continue doing as they’ve done to 20 plus other people and companies here in Utah alone over the past decade or so,” he said on his Instagram account.

According to Sparks, his lawyer showed the court about “40 slides of hard evidence” that allegedly laid out “exactly how the UPHE’s lawyers had been misleading the court for years.”

“You could feel the shift in that courtroom,” he said of the moment.

Sparks says he walked out of court “fully vindicated” and again emphasized that he believes the issue isn’t about refusing payments ordered by the court for civil violations. “It’s about refusing to be exploited and exposing a system that’s been abused for far too long,” he said.

Sparks says he has remained silent since the lawsuit was originally filed, but by arresting him, “these people officially crossed a line that they cannot uncross,” and he is now “done holding back.” He says he has paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal penalties, but does not believe the lawyer fees the plaintiffs are demanding are fair.

“This isn’t about clean air anymore. It’s about dirty tactics,” he said.

“Diesel Brothers” was a reality TV show that followed Sparks and his partner, David “Diesel Dave” Kiley, who customized pickup trucks.