FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 14, 1995                           (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


        OHIO TRUCK PARTS COMPANY CHARGED WITH RIGGING BIDS
         ON $2 MILLION WORTH OF MILITARY SURPLUS MATERIAL


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Federal antitrust prosecutors charged a
Toledo, Ohio, truck parts company and its president today with
conspiring to rig bids on the purchase of $2 million worth of
military surplus material sold at government auctions in
Pennsylvania, the Department of Justice announced.
     The Department's Antitrust Division filed a one-count felony
charge in U.S. District Court in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania,
against Ben's Truck Parts & Equipment Inc. and its president,
Donald L. Solomon, for conspiring to rig bids on the purchase of
military surplus, such as vehicles and vehicle parts sold by the
Defense Reutilization and Marketing Office, an agency of the
Defense Logistics Agency.  The Department said the bid-rigging
conspiracy occurred from January 1991 through December 1994.
     According to the charge, Ben's Truck Parts and Solomon
conspired with others to suppress and eliminate competition for
military surplus offered for sale by the Defense Reutilization
and Marketing Office at auctions in Mechanicsburg and Chambersburg, both Pennsylvania.  
     Ben's Truck Parts, Solomon and others carried out the
conspiracy by discussing their bids with each other before
various items were offered for sale.  They discussed the bid
price, the amount of the bid and designated the successful
bidder.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the charge resulted from an ongoing
federal grand jury investigation into bid rigging and related
violations concerning the Defense Office's auctions.
     The case was filed by the Antitrust Division's Philadelphia
Field Office with the assistance of the Defense Criminal
Investigative Service, the investigative arm of the Department of
Defense's Inspector General, and the United States Naval Criminal
Investigative Service.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act is a fine of $10 million, twice the
pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime, or twice
the pecuniary loss suffered by the victims of the crime,
whichever is greater.  
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act is three years in jail and a fine of
$350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual derived from
the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss suffered by the victims of
the crime, whichever is greater.
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95-332