Business owner pleads guilty to rigging bids for wildfire-fighting equipment

BOISE — The erstwhile proprietor of aggregate contractor companies that provided substance motortruck services to nan U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire fighters pleaded blameworthy to aggregate felonies connected Wednesday.

A news merchandise from nan Idaho Attorney General’s agency says Ike Tomlinson, 60, of Terreton, conspired pinch co-defendant Kris Bird, 61, of Salmon, and others successful astatine slightest 2 conspiracies.

RELATED | Two business owners accused of rigging bids for wildfire-fighting equipment

Both were indicted by a expansive assemblage connected 1 count of felony conspiracy to perpetrate ligament fraud, 5 counts of felony ligament fraud, and 1 count of conspiracy successful restraint of trade: bid rigging and territorial allocation.

As portion of a plea agreement, Tomlinson pleaded blameworthy Wednesday to colluding to monopolize, rigging bids, and allocating territories successful usurpation of Sections 1 and 2 of nan Sherman Antitrust Act.

In exchange, prosecutors will disregard nan remainder of nan charges, and are free to reason for a recommended condemnation successful court.

The statement comes aft a wiretap investigation that led to nan indictment of some Tomlinson and Bird successful December 2023.

“The suspect rigged prices of their substance motortruck services, overcharging nan U.S. Forest Service’s wildfire fighters,” said Assistant Director Michael D. Nordwall of nan FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division. “(Wednesday’s) plea statement shows location will beryllium superior consequences for executives for colluding against nan national government. The FBI and our partners are committed to ensuring nan American government, and its taxpayers, are not victimized by criminal monopoly schemes.”

Tomlinson’s sentencing has not yet been scheduled.

Background

Tomlinson and Bird, who ain competing companies, allegedly conspired to “rig bids and allocate territories,” violating nan Sherman Act.

The Federal Trade Commission says nan Sherman Act of 1890 outlaws “every contract, operation aliases conspiracy successful restraint of trade,” and immoderate “monopolization, attempted monopolization, aliases conspiracy aliases operation to monopolize.”

The indictment says that to unafraid nan champion woody for taxpayers and beforehand free and adjacent competition, nan U.S. Forest Service advertises and runs a bidding process to grant definite firefighting-related contracts to qualified mini businesses.

These vendors proviso substance trucks, h2o trucks, communications trailers and more.

According to nan felony indictment, Tomlinson and Bird worked together to impact nan contracts for wood firefighting services to make nan astir money possible.

The indictment alleges that from astatine slightest successful aliases astir February 2014, up to astir March 2023, Tomlinson and Bird coordinated their bids to “squeeze” and “drown” competitors, judge costs for substance trucks astatine collusive and noncompetitive regular rates, and tried to conceal their actions.

“This investigation was conducted by nan department’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force, which included FBI agents, pinch judicial authorization, intercepting telephone calls betwixt Tomlinson and Bird,” says a merchandise from nan Attorney General’s office. “As alleged, Tomlinson and Bird said pinch 1 different soon earlier nan deadline to taxable bids connected substance motortruck contracts. During calls quoted successful nan indictment, they allegedly agreed to rig bids, allocate territories, and target competitors.”