A US man faces up to 20 years in prison for admitting to knowingly dealing in smuggled R22 refrigerant.
Carlos A Garcia, 52, has pleaded guilty in a Florida court to receiving, buying, selling and facilitating the transportation, concealment, and sale of approximately 13,600kg of the ozone-depleting refrigerant.

Garcia was senior vice-president of the Heating and Cooling division of Missouri-based Mar-Cone Appliance Parts Co (Marcone) and was responsible for executing legal purchases and sales of refrigerant gas. Instead Garcia engaged in a pattern of conduct to purchase and sell black market R22. The investigation revealed that the defendant would routinely seek out and arrange the purchase of R22 from various importers who did not hold the required unexpended consumption allowances, totalling approximately 55,488kg of restricted R22, with a fair market value of approximately $639,458. The refrigerant gas was distributed by Marcone throughout the United States.

Garcia's employer was convicted and sentenced for related conduct in March 2010. Marcone pleaded guilty to knowingly receiving, buying, selling and facilitating the transportation, concealment, and sale of approximately 100,898kg of R22, or 7,419 cylinders, which had been illegally smuggled into the United States contrary to the Clean Air Act. Marcone was sentenced to five years of probation and ordered to pay a $500,000 criminal fine, a $400,000 community service payment, and was ordered to forfeit $190,534.70 in illegal proceeds.