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Release Date: September 6, 2007
Release Number: 07-1355-ATL
Contact Name: Gloria Della/Richard Manning
Phone Number: 202.693.8664/202.693.4676
Atlanta — In a case investigated by the U.S.
Department of Labor’s Employee Benefits Security Administration (EBSA),
the owner of Piping Components Inc. in Maryville, Tennessee, was
sentenced to three years of supervised probation, fined $2,500 and
barred from serving in a fiduciary capacity to any employee benefit plan
governed by the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). Joseph
Brent was sentenced immediately after pleading guilty to one count of
theft of assets from the company’s 401(k) plan.
“Theft of employee benefit assets jeopardizes the
benefits of workers,” said Howard Marsh, director of EBSA’s Atlanta
Regional Office. “This case sends a clear message that theft of
employee benefit plan assets is a serious crime that will be prosecuted
to the full extent of the law.”
Brent was indicted October 6, 2006, on theft from an
employee benefit plan governed by ERISA. He carried out the criminal act
between April 19, 2001, and October 19, 2001. Brent paid $29,500 in
restitution to the plan prior to the August 20 plea hearing.
Along with EBSA’s Atlanta office, the Blount County
Sheriff’s Office investigated this case. The District Attorney’s
Office for the 5th Judicial District in Maryville, Tennessee, prosecuted
the case.
State of Tennessee v. Brent
Criminal Number C-16120
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