Just before 4 p.m. on Tuesday, February 3, Indiana State Police responded to a collision on State Road 67 near County Road 550 East, about three miles from the Ohio state line, in the kind of flat, open farmland where you can see trouble coming from a mile away.
Gert Pretorius, 44, of Geneva, Indiana, was driving a 2019 International semi eastbound when he slowed for traffic ahead. Behind him, another semi, a 2022 Freightliner driven by 30-year-old Bekzhan Beishekeev of Philadelphia, did not stop.
Instead of braking, Beishekeev swerved left, crossed the center line, and struck a westbound Chevrolet van head-on.
The van was driven by Donald Stipp, 55, of Portland, Indiana. His passengers were four men from Bryant’s close-knit Amish community: Henry Eicher, 50. His sons are Menno Eicher, 25, and Paul Eicher, 19. And Simon Girod, 23, a family friend.
Three of them, Henry, Menno, and Paul Eicher, were pronounced dead at the scene. Simon Girod died later at the hospital. The Jay County Coroner confirmed all four victims suffered multiple blunt force trauma injuries.
Donald Stipp underwent surgery overnight and is now listed as stable but in critical condition. A fifth passenger is being treated at Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne.
The Stipp family shared a message of appreciation to the community for the prayers, calls, and support during what they described as an unimaginable time. A GoFundMe has been created to help with medical and recovery costs.
Beishekeev and Pretorius were not injured.
The Indiana State Police Critical Incident Reconstruction Team is investigating alongside the ISP Commercial Vehicle Division and Jay County authorities.
The Truck
The logo was the giveaway.
People have spent months investigating a network of trucking companies operating out of the Chicago metropolitan area that share addresses, phone numbers, branding, and, I now know, the same trucks operating under different DOT numbers. The triangular mountain logo on that Freightliner has appeared in my research dozens of times.
The carrier operating the truck in Tuesday’s crash has not been officially confirmed by Indiana State Police. But that logo belongs to a network I’ve been documenting, carrier by carrier, crash by crash, violation by violation.
And now four men are dead.
The Network
Let me show you what hiding in plain sight looks like.
Sam Express Inc. (USDOT 3235924) is based in Palatine, Illinois. Its primary officer is listed as Saipidin Tutashov.
Read that last name again: Tutashov.
Now look at these carriers:
- Tutash Express Inc (USDOT 3487141)
- Tutash Express 1 LLC (USDOT 4005857)
The network is literally named after the guy running Sam Express. They didn’t even try to hide it.
Here’s what the officer list looks like across this network:
Every one of those officer names, Tutashov, Zhalaldin Uulu, Musaev, Murzapazylov, Arystankulov, is Kyrgyz. These are names from Kyrgyzstan, the Central Asian nation whose phone number (+996) appears publicly on Sam Express’s website and social media.
It doesn’t stop in Illinois. Sam Express Corp is registered as a foreign corporation in California with a registered agent named Ruslanbek Olzhebaev, yet another Kyrgyz name on the paperwork.
The driver who killed four people on Tuesday? Bekzhan Beishekeev. Also a Kyrgyz name.
This is a pipeline.
The 139 Shared Trucks Shell Game
Federal carrier registration data shows that AJ Partners LLC (USDOT 3617842) has shared 139 Vehicle Identification Numbers with Tutash Express Inc (USDOT 3487141).
139 trucks have been inspected under both DOT numbers.
AJ Partners has also shared 36 VINs with KG Line Group (USDOT 3487333).
This is the textbook definition of what FMCSA calls a chameleon carrier network: multiple authorities sharing equipment, drivers, and management, while maintaining separate DOT numbers so that, when one accumulates too many violations or crashes, they can shift operations to another.
According to the Government Accountability Office, chameleon carriers are three times more likely to be involved in serious crashes than legitimate operators. From 2005 to 2010, the GAO found that 18% of carriers with chameleon attributes were involved in severe crashes, compared to just 6% of new applicants without those red flags.
The Safety Record 98 Crashes and Counting
Let’s look at what this network has accumulated:
Ninety-one crashes. Nearly a hundred crashes across a network of carriers sharing the same equipment, the same officers, the same Kyrgyz recruitment pipeline.
That’s just what’s documented. That’s just what made it into FMCSA databases.
Tutash Express 1: The Revoked Authority Still Reporting Mileage
Want to see how broken the system is?
Tutash Express 1 LLC (USDOT 4005857) had its operating authority involuntarily revoked on July 26, 2024.
That means FMCSA determined this carrier should not be operating on public roads.
Yet according to federal records:
- The carrier updated its MCS-150 form in January 2026, six months after revocation
- It reported 128,962 miles driven in 2025, while operating under revoked authority
- Its Vehicle Out-of-Service rate is 100%; every single vehicle inspected has been placed out of service
- It has had 3 crashes despite only 4 inspections
- Its listed cargo includes “Amazon Drop & Hook”.
How do you report mileage for a year you weren’t authorized to operate? How do you haul Amazon freight without valid authority?
The primary officer listed for Tutash Express 1 LLC is Sultan D. Musaev.
The Out-of-Service Rates. Failing Inspections Everywhere
When a truck or driver is placed “out of service” during a roadside inspection, it means they had violations severe enough that they cannot legally continue until repairs are made or violations are corrected.
Here’s how this network performs:
AJ Partners fails vehicle inspections at a rate 25% higher than the national average. One in four trucks inspected gets placed out of service.
These trucks, with the same VINs, are operating under multiple DOT numbers throughout this network.
The Address Problem 310 Trucks from a Suburban House
Federal regulations require motor carriers to maintain a principal place of business where records are kept and management decisions are made.
KG Line Group (USDOT 3487333) lists its headquarters at a residential address in Streamwood, Illinois, a single-family home that supposedly serves as the operations center for over 300 trucks and 300 drivers.
Try fitting 300 driver qualification files, 300 drug testing records, 300 hours-of-service logs, and 300 vehicle maintenance files in a suburban garage. Try conducting meaningful safety oversight from a kitchen table.
Multiple carriers in this network share terminal addresses:
Terminal 1, 2064 W 167th St, Markham, IL:
- Tutash Express Inc
- DVL Express / Dovgal Express Inc
- Altex Logistics Inc
- United Group Logistics
Terminal 2, 10 Gougar Rd, Joliet, IL:
- Tutash Express Inc
- KG Line Group Inc
- CIA Transport Inc
- Freenet Express
- Borcha Inc
Tutash Express appears at both terminals.
The Kyrgyzstan Connection
Sam Express Corp openly displays a Kyrgyzstan phone number on its website and social media: +996 997 77-55-55. The +996 country code is for Kyrgyzstan.
The website shows both the American and the Kyrgyz flags.
This isn’t hidden. This isn’t something I had to dig for. It’s right there on their public Facebook page.
What it suggests is an active overseas dispatch operation and a driver recruitment pipeline connecting Kyrgyzstan to trucking operations in the Chicago area.
Foreign driver recruitment is not illegal. Nearly 19% of American truck drivers are foreign-born. But when combined with:
- Shared equipment across multiple DOT numbers
- Officers whose names literally spell out other company names
- Residential addresses for 300-truck fleets
- 100% vehicle out-of-service rates
- Revoked authorities are still reporting mileage
- 91+ crashes across the network
…it paints a picture of a sophisticated operation designed to evade regulatory oversight.
What FMCSA Is Supposed to Do
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration has tools designed specifically for this:
ARCHI Program (Application Review and Chameleon Investigation): Screens new applicants by matching registration data against existing carriers, looking for common addresses, phone numbers, names, email addresses, and VINs.
Safety Fitness Determinations: FMCSA can issue out-of-service orders for carriers posing imminent hazards.
Common Ownership Reviews: Investigators can examine whether multiple authorities share management, drivers, or equipment.
The problem? These tools, including humans, are overwhelmed.
FMCSA granted 109,340 new carrier authorities in 2021 alone, an 84% increase from the previous year. If just 1% have chameleon characteristics, that’s potentially 1,100 unsafe carriers hitting the road annually.
The bad actors know the system is overwhelmed. They register multiple authorities like burner phones, use them until they get hot, then switch to the next one.
Meanwhile, a network operating 139 shared trucks across multiple DOT numbers, with officers whose surnames spell out company names, continues to operate despite 91 crashes on its record.
The Human Cost
Henry Eicher was 50 years old. He was riding with two of his sons, Menno, 25, and Paul, 19, and a family friend, Simon Girod, 23. They were heading somewhere together on a Tuesday afternoon in rural Indiana.
A semi driver didn’t stop for traffic. That’s the proximate cause.
Behind that driver is a carrier. Behind that carrier is a network. Behind that network is a regulatory system that has warned about chameleon carriers for over a decade, even as the problem metastasizes.
From 2016 to 2022, fatal crashes involving large trucks increased 26.4%. Nearly 5,500 people die in truck-involved crashes every year. The victims are overwhelmingly not truck drivers, 82% of fatalities in large truck crashes are people in other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists.
People like Henry, Menno, Paul, and Simon.
The Amish community in Jay County doesn’t seek media attention. They don’t file lawsuits. They grieve, they bury their dead, and they carry on.
How many more?
Whats Next
The Indiana State Police investigation remains ongoing. The carrier operating the at-fault vehicle has not been officially identified by ISP.
I’m continuing to analyze VIN crossover data, corporate filings, and inspection records to map the full extent of this network. Illinois Secretary of State corporate records are being pulled for officer names, registered agents, and incorporation dates.
This story will be updated as additional information becomes available.
Four men are dead. Ninety-one crashes are on the books. One hundred thirty-nine trucks are operating under multiple identities.
Someone has to answer for this.
SOURCES AND DATA
Crash Details:
- Indiana State Police Press Release, February 4, 2026
- The Commercial Review (Portland, IN)
- WANE 15 (Fort Wayne, IN)
- TheTrucker.com
- WZBD Radio
Federal Safety Data:
- FMCSA SAFER Database (safer.fmcsa.dot.gov)
- FMCSA SMS Safety Measurement System
- Carrier registration and inspection records accessed February 2026
Carriers Documented:
GAO Reports:
- GAO-12-364: “Motor Carrier Safety: New Applicant Reviews Should Expand to Identify Freight Carriers Evading Detection” (March 2012)
- GAO-15-433T: “Motor Carrier Safety: Improvements to Data-Driven Oversight Could Better Target High Risk Carriers” (March 2015)
FMCSA Reports:
- Implementation of Methodology to Identify Chameleon Carriers: Report to Congress
- 2024 Pocket Guide to Large Truck and Bus Statistics
VIN Crossover Data:
- AJ Partners LLC
Tutash Express Inc: 139 shared VINs - AJ Partners LLC KG Line Group Inc: 36 shared VINs
DEVELOPING
Additional records under review:
- Illinois Secretary of State corporate filings
- Federal court case: Commercial Credit Group Inc v. Dovgal Express Inc et al (N.D. Ill. 2024)
- ProPublica PPP loan database
- FMCSA inspection records with VIN cross-references
Last updated: February 4, 2026, 9:00 PM EST
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