WASHINGTON, D.C. -- An Atlanta federal grand jury today indicted John F. Triplett, former senior project manager in the parts department of the Henry Pratt Company, for conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in connection with a kickback scheme used to defraud his employer, the Department of Justice announced.

The one-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, charges John F. Triplett, a resident of Duluth, Georgia, with participating in a conspiracy to defraud the Henry Pratt Company of Aurora, Illinois, from early 1996 through May 1998. Henry Pratt is a manufacturer and supplier of equipment used in water and wastewater treatment plants, nuclear power plants and other industrial installations.

According to the charge, Triplett was paid by co-conspirator Pumps, Valves & Equipment, Inc. (PVE), d/b/a The Scruggs Company, with substantial kickback payments in exchange for his arranging for Henry Pratt to make purchases from a front company, Eurotech Industries, Inc.

Today's charge is the eighth to arise out of an ongoing investigation of the water and wastewater treatment equipment industry being conducted jointly by the Antitrust Division's Atlanta Field Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Atlanta.

Triplett is charged with violating 18 U.S.C. § 371, which carries maximum penalties of a jail term of up to five years and a $250,000 fine. The maximum fine may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.

Anyone with information concerning bid rigging or kickbacks in the water and wastewater treatment equipment industry should contact the Atlanta Office of the Antitrust Division at (404) 331-7100.

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