FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
THURSDAY, MAY 4, 1995                              (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888

          ILLINOIS DAIRY AND THREE INDIVIDUALS CHARGED
            IN DAIRY PRODUCTS BID RIGGING CONSPIRACY

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A federal grand jury in Springfield,
Illinois, today indicted an Illinois dairy company and three
individuals for conspiring to suppress competition and rig bids
for contracts to supply dairy products to public schools and
other customers in central Illinois and eastern Missouri,
according to the Department of Justice.  This is the 127th case
brought by the Department's Antitrust Division involving bid
rigging in the supply of dairy products.
     The indictment charges that the conspiracy began in the late
1960's and continued through the end of the 1989-1990 school
year.
     The one-count indictment was filed in U.S. District Court in
Springfield, Illinois, against the following defendants:
     -- Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. of Carlinville, Illinois;
     -- Lyndell Oller, manager for Prairie Farms Dairy Inc. in
Peoria, Illinois;        
     -- James Rogers, formerly a manager for Meadow Gold Dairies
in Champaign, Illinois, and currently a manager for Prairie Farms
Dairy Inc. in Peoria, Illinois; and
     -- Leonard Southwell, general manager and chief executive
officer of Prairie Farms.
     The indictment charges that in order to carry out the
conspiracy, the defendants and their co-conspirators discussed
among themselves the submission of prospective bids, designated
which dairy would be the low bidder, refrained from bidding
against each other or submitted intentionally high bids, and
concealed the conspiracy.
     Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division, noted that to date 73 corporations and 80
individuals have been convicted and about $59 million in fines
have been imposed in cases involving bid rigging in supplying
dairy products to public school districts.  Sixteen grand juries
in 12 states continue to investigate the milk industry.
     In May 1994, Prairie Farms was indicted for its
participation in a conspiracy to fix prices, rig bids and
allocate territories on dairy products sold in southern Indiana
and northwestern Kentucky.  The case is pending awaiting a trial
date. 
     Bingaman said that the investigation, which is continuing,
is being conducted by the Chicago Field Office of the Antitrust
Division.  The U.S. Attorney's Office in Springfield, the Federal
Bureau of Investigation's offices in Springfield and St. Louis,
Missouri, the Great Plains Regional Office of the U.S. Department
of Agriculture, the Illinois Attorney General's Office and the
Missouri Attorney General's Office, assisted in the case.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation occurring before November 16, 1990,
is a fine not to exceed the greatest of $1 million, twice the
pecuniary gain the corporation derived from the crime or twice
the pecuniary loss caused to the victims of the crime.
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under the
Sherman Act for a violation occurring before November 16, 1990,
is three years imprisonment and a fine not to exceed the greatest
of $250,000, 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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95-252