Scott Wombold
Federal Judge Curtis Collier on Thursday sentenced former Pilot Travel Centers vice president Scott "Scooter" Wombold to six years in federal prison. His guideline sentencing range was 70-87 months.
He sentenced Heather Jones, former Pilot office account representative, to 33 months. That is below her initial guideline range of 57-71 months. Judge Collier said the loss amount attributed to Ms. Jones in a fraud against trucking companies was $5.4 million. However, he said he believed that the amount for Ms. Jones "overstates her culpability."
Former Pilot president Mark Hazelwood last week was sentenced to 12 and one-half years in federal prison by Judge Collier.
Wombold, 59, and Ms. Jones, 46, are to report to their designated prisons on Jan. 7.
Wombold read an emotional statement in which he said he worked hard to rise from humble beginnings. He said of the fraud, "I wish I had been more vocal." Speaking of his wife, daughter, son and "best friend" two-year-old grandson, he said, "I humbly ask for leniency."
Wombold was also ordered to pay a $75,000 fine to the government.
The two defendants will each be on one year of supervised release after they get out of prison.
Judge Collier said in sentencing Ms. Jones he took about two years off her term related to the fact that her husband is seriously ill and she is his main caregiver. However, he said it would depreciate the seriousness of the offense to give her outright probation..
Attorney Eli Richardson argued that Wombold "was not the biggest of the bigwigs involved. He said on a secretly-recorded tape a Pilot employee said Wombold "laid down and let John Freeman do whatever he wants." The attorney said Wombold was "reluctantly" involved in the fraud while others "laughed and bragged about it."
An attorney for Ms. Jones said, "She was not the quarterback. She did not call the plays. She did what she was told and she regrets that to this day."
Judge Collier said the Pilot fraud was unprecedented in that a large number of employees of a respected company "were able to take over the mechanisms of the company and carry out a large fraud over a long time period."
He said the unique combination of the conspirators "exposes society to tremendous harm." He said the victims included, not only the trucking companies who were not given promised rebates, but rival travel centers and other Pilot employees. He said the Knoxville-based company had to pay out $57 million to trucking firms and suffered heavy loss to its reputation.
Judge Collier said he did not believe that monetary gain was the motive for the two defendants. He said, "It had more to do with peer pressure and the desire to keep their jobs and positions. He said they "were unwilling to call out" the wrong-doing."
He said of Wombold, "One solution was to just quit. But he did not have the intestinal fortitude to take that step."