FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1997                        (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

                                 
      TOLEDO COMPANY AND MANAGER OF RIVAL FIRM CHARGED WITH
             PARTICIPATING IN BID-RIGGING CONSPIRACY


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Toledo, Ohio construction firm and the
former branch manager of a competitor were charged late yesterday
with conspiring to rig bids on construction and repair contracts
of refractory linings, the Department of Justice announced today. 
Refractory linings are high-temperature resistant materials used
to line furnaces and boilers.  The linings are generally
purchased by refineries, auto manufacturers, and chemical and
utility companies.

     The two cases were filed yesterday in U.S. District Court in
Toledo.  The first case charged Northern Refractory and
Insulation Company, an unincorporated division of Cerco Inc.,
with conspiring to rig bids for refractory lining construction
contracts from January l993 through December l995, in violation
of Section One of the Sherman Act.

     In a second case, Larry Angel, a former area manager for
ACandS Inc., was charged with participating in the same
conspiracy.

     According to the charges, the defendants conspired to
suppress and eliminate competition for refractory lining
construction and repair contacts.  The defendants carried out
this conspiracy by discussing their prospective bids before those
bids were submitted to project owners or general contractors.
  
     Joel I. Klein, Acting Assistant Attorney General in charge
of the Antitrust Division, and Emily M. Sweeney, United States
Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said the charges
resulted from a year long investigation of bid rigging in the
refractory lining construction industry.

     The cases were filed by the Antitrust Division's
Philadelphia Field Office with the assistance of the Toledo
branch office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

     The Sherman Act outlaws all contracts, combinations and
conspiracies that unreasonably restrain interstate trade,
including agreements among competitors to fix prices, rig bids
and allocate customers.

     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of a
violation of the Sherman Act is the greatest of $10 million,
twice the gross pecuniary gain the defendant derived from the
offense, or twice the gross pecuniary loss caused to the victims
of the crime.  The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of
a violation of the Sherman Act is three years in prison and the
greatest of $350,000, twice the pecuniary gain the individual
derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the
victims of the crime.
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97-052