FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                          AT
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 1995                         (202) 616-2771
                                               TDD (202) 514-1888


       JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CHARGES FORT WORTH, TEXAS, BAKERY
              AND FORMER EXECUTIVE WITH PRICE FIXING

     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Criminal price fixing charges were filed
against a Fort Worth, Texas, baking company, the first such
charges resulting from a Justice Department antitrust
investigation into alleged price fixing and bid rigging in the
wholesale bread and bread products industry.
     An indictment returned yesterday by a federal grand jury in
Dallas and made public today, charged Mrs. Baird's Bakeries Inc.,
and its former president and chief executive officer, Floyd
Carroll Baird, for conspiring for more than 15 years to raise and
maintain the prices of bread and bread products sold in much of
Texas.
     "The Antitrust Division is committed to prosecuting criminal
price fixing, especially when it involves a staple like bread,"
said Anne K. Bingaman, Assistant Attorney General in charge of
the Antitrust Division.  She said the investigation involving the
pricing of bread and bread products is continuing.
     The indictment charged that beginning in 1977 and continuing
through March of 1993, Floyd Carroll Baird and Mrs. Baird's
Bakeries conspired with others in violation of the Sherman Act,
to raise, fix and maintain prices of bread and bread products
sold to customers in east Texas.
     The indictment also charged that, beginning as early as 1984
and continuing through June 1992, Floyd Carroll Baird and Mrs.
Baird's Bakeries were involved in a price fixing conspiracy and a
bid rigging conspiracy for contracts to supply bread and bread
products to governmental entities located in west Texas.
     Bingaman said the indictment resulted from a grand jury
investigation in Dallas into suspected price fixing and bid
rigging in the wholesale bread and bread products industry in
Texas.  The ongoing investigation is being conducted by the
Antitrust Division's Dallas Field Office with the assistance of
the Department of Veterans Affairs, Office of Inspector General.
     The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted under the
Sherman Act for a crime committed after November 16, 1990, is a
fine of $10 million, twice the pecuniary gain the corporation
derived from the crime, or twice the pecuniary loss caused to the
victims of the crime, whichever is greater.   
     The maximum penalty for an individual convicted under the
Sherman Act for a crime committed after November 16, 1990, is
three years in prison and a fine 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, whichever is
greater.  
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95-512