BNA: Sements forstjóri fær 14 mánaða fangelsisdóm
USA, Indianapolis: One of two ringleaders in a nearly four-year conspiracy to fix ready-mix concrete prices in the Indianapolis area was sentenced Thursday to 14 months in federal prison.
Chief U.S. District Judge Larry J. McKinney gave Scott D. Hughey, 52, president of Hughey Inc., a company doing business as Carmel Concrete Products, a sentence 10 months shorter than the two-year maximum the government had recommended.
McKinney cited Hughey's unusually high level of cooperation with the FBI and Justice Department antitrust investigators even after Hughey had been told little leniency was to be gained by coming forward when he did.
The judge recommended that Hughey begin serving his sentence in early 2007 at a Terre Haute prison. The prison sentence will be followed by a year of supervised release. Hughey also was ordered to pay a $30,000 fine.
Antitrust officials estimate $15 million to $37.5 million in concrete sales by Carmel Concrete Products were affected by the conspiracy to increase list prices and limit discounts to major purchasers from July 2000 through May 25, 2004. In August McKinney fined the Carmel company, which also pleaded guilty to an antitrust violation, $225,000.
McKinney will sentence the price-fixing conspiracy's other ringleader, Gus "Butch" Nuckols III, 46, who is president and owner of Fishers-based Builder's Concrete & Supply Co., on Jan. 26. Federal prosecutors have recommended a 21-month sentence and $50,000 fine for Nuckols, whose company was fined $4 million in July.