WASHINGTON, D.C. - An Alabama man was charged today with participating in a conspiracy to rig bids on contracts to supply milk to public school boards in Alabama, according to the Department of Justice's Antitrust Division.

This is the 12th case filed in Alabama as a result of the Antitrust Division's dairy investigations.

Buford M. Goss Jr. of Gadsden, Alabama, former general sales manager and former general manager of a Huntsville plant now known as Meadow Gold Dairies Inc., was charged with participating in a conspiracy to rig bids on contracts to supply milk to public school boards in Pickens and Tuscaloosa counties and the city of Tuscaloosa, beginning in the spring of 1984 and continuing through June 1989.

The one-count felony charge was filed in U.S. District Court in Birmingham, Alabama.

Joseph H. Widmar, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Antitrust Division, said the charge arose in connection with a federal grand jury investigation in Birmingham into collusive practices by dairy products suppliers in Alabama. Widmar said the investigation, being conducted by the Division's Atlanta Field Office, is continuing.

To date, 57 corporations and 54 individuals have been convicted and a total of approximately $54.7 million in fines have been imposed in cases involving the supply of dairy products to public school districts.

Twenty-six individuals have been sentenced to serve an average of approximately six months imprisonment in cases involving the supply of dairy products to public school districts. Civil damages total approximately $8 million. Twenty-seven grand juries in 19 states continue to investigate the milk industry.

The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of violating the Sherman Act prior to November 16, 1990, is a period of incarceration of three years and the greatest of a fine of $250,000, twice the gross pecuniary gain derived from the crime, or twice the gross pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.

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