William B. Cassidy, Senior Editor | May 24, 2012 3:15PM EDT
The owner of a trucking company shut down by federal regulators last year for numerous safety violations has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
Mark David Gunther, Sr., owner of Gunthers Transport, filed a Chapter 11 petition May 15 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Baltimore, according to local news reports.
The Baltimore Sun and Baltimore Business Journal report Gunther owes more than $3.3 million in debt, including a $1.2 million Internal Revenue Service bill.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration shut down Hanover, Md.-based Gunthers Transport Nov. 8, charging the carrier with serious safety violations.
Within three weeks, the FMCSA shut down Clock Transport, which had the same address as Gunther and was owned by a member of the Gunther family.
Gunthers Transport was closed after FMCSA investigators uncovered numerous violations of truck driver hours of service and vehicle maintenance rules.
The trucking company had been involved in seven recorded accidents in 2011 that caused four injuries, including a fatal crash in August last year, the FMCSA said.
Gunther and his companies, including Gunther Leasing and G.T. USA, have filed for bankruptcy protection four times since the 1990s, The Baltimore Sun reported.
Gunther spent 30 months in prison in the 1990s after being convicted of fraud and perjury in a case involving federal driver hours of service violations.
Contact William B. Cassidy at wcassidy@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter at @wbcassidy_joc
