FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, JULY 16, 1997                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

      FORMER EXECUTIVE OF ROCHESTER, NEW YORK AREA CONSTRUCTION
             FIRM PLEADS GUILTY TO BID RIGGING CONSPIRACY


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A former executive of a Rochester, New
York utility construction company pleaded guilty today and agreed
to pay a $2,000 criminal fine for participating in a conspiracy to
rig bids and allocate contracts on utility construction jobs let
by Rochester Gas & Electric (RG&E), said the Department of
Justice. 

     The Department's Antitrust Division, in a one-count felony
charge filed today in U.S. District Court in Rochester, said that
Thomas J. Abraham, the former director and manager of Joseph A.
Abraham Enterprises Inc., and others conspired to rig bids and
allocate contracts on certain RG&E utility construction jobs in
violation of the Sherman Act.  The conspiracy began in 1987 and
continued until May 1993, the Department said.  

     In its first case brought as a result of a continuing
antitrust investigation of the utility construction industry, the
Department charged that Abraham and unidentified co-conspirators
held meetings to discuss the allocation and prices bid on utility
construction services contracts for RG&E and agreed on who would 
win a particular contract.

     Thomas J. Abraham, of Livonia, New York, has agreed to
cooperate in the government's investigation.  His father, Joseph
A. Abraham, also agreed to cooperate in the investigation, and
will not be charged.  Abraham Enterprises has been out of business
since 1995.

     Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said today's charge arose in connection
with an investigation in Rochester and the surrounding area into
collusive practices by utility construction contractors.  The plea
agreement resulted from the ongoing investigation conducted by the
Division's New York Field Office with the assistance of the
Rochester Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of New York in
Rochester.

     Utility construction involves the repair and maintenance of
facilities, such as gas pipe and electrical conduit, for
transmitting gas and electricity to customers.

     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act is a term of imprisonment of up to
three years, or a fine not to exceed the greatest of $350,000 or
twice the gross pecuniary gain the individual derived from the
offense or twice the victim's gross pecuniary loss from the
offense, or both imprisonment and a fine.

                                ###
97-297