Three of four former employees of truck stop chain Pilot Flying J who
have been on trial since November were convicted Thursday in connection
with a rebate scam.
Former company President Mark Hazelwood
and former account representative Heather Jones were found guilty of
conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud Browns Game Jerseys , news outlets reported.
Former
company Vice President Scott ”Scooter” Wombold was convicted of one
count of wire fraud. But he and former account representative Karen Mann
were found not guilty of conspiracy.
Article continues below ...
Pilot
Flying J is controlled by the family of Cleveland Browns owner Jimmy
Haslam and Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam. The Haslams haven’t been charged
with any wrongdoing. The governor has not been involved in the company
in recent years.
The verdict followed about four days of
deliberations in U.S. District Court in Chattanooga, where the trial has
been going on since November.
Hazelwood was also
convicted of wire fraud and witness tampering and found not guilty of
one count of wire fraud. Wombold was also found not guilty of two counts
of wire fraud and three counts of making false statements to federal
agents. Jones was found not guilty of four counts of wire fraud.
Wombold’s
lawyer, John Kelly, said his defense team would explore options for
appeal on the one count on which Wombold was found guilty.
”All
along, Mr. Wombold desired only to be judged by a jury of his peers at
trial,” Kelly said in a statement. ”Today, having done exactly that, he
stands vindicated on six of seven counts.”
Pilot Flying J issued a statement after the verdicts were announced saying it has focused on its customers.
”Nearly
five years ago upon learning of the improper transactions, we made
whole every customer negatively affected, entered into a Criminal
Enforcement Agreement with the government, cooperated fully with the
government’s investigation, and made policy, procedure and staff changes
to make certain nothing like this ever happens again Cowboys Game Jerseys ,” the statement said.
Sentencing was set for June 27 in Chattanooga.
Fourteen
former Pilot Flying J employees pleaded guilty earlier, and some
testified during the trial. They are awaiting sentencing by U.S.
District Judge Curtis L. Collier.
The jurors said in a
note Wednesday they had reached a unanimous verdict on all but one
charge involving one defendant. On Thursday morning, the jurors said in a
note they remained deadlocked on that charge.
Collier
then gave them an instruction designed to prompt jurors to re-examine
their individual votes and try one more time for a unanimous decision.
Lance
Lynn gets the start Friday night when the Minnesota Twins continue a
four-game series with the Baltimore Orioles at Target Field.
Lynn’s
2018 season has not gone anywhere near the way he may have envisioned
when he hit the free-agent market for the first time last fall, ending a
six-year run with the Cardinals.
Instead of landing a
lucrative, multi-year deal he went unsigned until late in spring
training, when he agreed to a one-year, $12 million contract with the
Minnesota Twins — approximately $5.4 million less than he would have
earned under the Cardinals’ one-year qualifying offer he turned down
last November.
After an abbreviated spring camp, Lynn got
off to an abysmal start. He went 0-3 in his first five outings, posting
an 8.37 ERA in those contests but finally got into a groove when the
calendar flipped to May. He went 5-2 with a 2.88 ERA over his next nine
turns.
Lynn, who is 5-7 with a 5.49 ERA for the season,
continues his hit-or-miss season Friday after losing his last two
starts. He is fresh off his worst outing of the season when he allowed
seven runs on five hits and three walks, failing to get out of the
second inning in an 11-10 loss at Wrigley Field on Sunday.
Cubs
pitcher Jon Lester homered off Lynn during a disastrous second inning
that also included Lynn failing to cover first on a routine grounder,
which kept the inning going long enough for the Cubs to take a big lead.
“We gave them an extra out Broncos Game Jerseys ,”
Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Lynn’s gaffe. “I think that was the
biggest thing that stuck out to me. An offense like that, outs when you
don’t get them, that was problematic to me. The arithmetic says that was
an extra five runs because of that particular play.”
Lynn is 1-1 with a 7.30 ERA in three games (two starts) versus Baltimore.
The
Twins snapped a six-game losing streak in the series opener Thursday
night and, in turn, extended the misery for the Orioles, who have lost
three in a row and 10 of their last 11.
They’ll turn to
Dylan Bundy (6-7, 3.75 ERA) to snap the skid. Baltimore plans to
activate the right-hander from the disabled list Friday and get him back
on the mound for the first time since suffering a sprained left ankle
June 23.
He went 3-7 with a 4.46 ERA through his first 12
starts of the season but got hot in June, posting a 1.98 ERA while going
3-0 in four starts before suffering the injury while running the bases
after collecting his first big league hit.
His return
comes as the Orioles need to decide a course of action ahead of the
trade deadline. At 24-62, Baltimore owns the worst record in baseball
and will almost certainly be a seller as the deadline approaches.
The
25-year-old Dylan is in his third full big league season and still has
three more years of team control, making him an intriguing candidate for
a motivated buyer.
