FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 1995                       (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

    JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CHARGES TWO TEXAS WHOLESALE PLUMBING   
            COMPANIES AND EXECUTIVE WITH PRICE FIXING

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury in Dallas today
indicted two Texas wholesale plumbing companies, one in Lubbock
and the other in Amarillo, and the president of the Lubbock
company for conspiring to fix prices for the sale of wholesale
plumbing supplies in Lubbock, said the Department of Justice.
     This is the eighth case filed as a result of the
Department's antitrust investigation involving wholesale plumbing
supplies sold in west and northwest Texas.
     The Department's Antitrust Division charged that Oberkampf
Supply Company of Lubbock Inc., its president, Cyril Reasoner,
and Clowe & Cowan Inc. of Amarillo, Texas, conspired with others,
between July 1990 and October 1990, to fix prices on wholesale
plumbing supplies sold from their sales facilities in Lubbock in
violation of the Sherman Act.  
     The indictment, filed in the U.S. District Court in Lubbock,
Texas, charged that the defendants carried out the conspiracy
through meetings where wholesale plumbing supply prices were
discussed and minimum prices charged to customers were agreed
upon.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, said the indictment resulted from a
federal grand jury investigation conducted in Dallas into
suspected price fixing in the wholesale plumbing supply industry
in Texas.  
     The investigation is being conducted by the Antitrust
Division's Dallas Field Office with the assistance of the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.  
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation committed prior to November 16, 1990,
is a fine of $1 million, twice the pecuniary gain the corporation
derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the
victims of the crime, whichever is greater.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation committed prior to November 16, 1990,
is three years in prison and a fine of $250,000, twice the
pecuniary gain the individual derived from the crime, or twice
the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime, whichever
is greater.
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95-511