Former Arrow Trucking CEO Pielsticker Gets 7½ Years for Fraud
Former Arrow Trucking CEO James Douglas Pielsticker has been sentenced to 7½ years in federal prison for his part in a multimillion-dollar fraud scheme that contributed to the Tulsa, Oklahoma, motor carrier’s demise.
In an Oct. 9 sentencing hearing, Pielsticker also was ordered to pay restitution of more than $21 million.
In February, Pielsticker pleaded guilty to charges related to submitting fraudulent invoices to a Utah bank and tax evasion in a 2009 scam that was orchestrated with two other company executives.
Arrow abruptly closed its doors Dec. 22, canceling its fuel cards and stranding drivers of its nearly 1,400 trucks around the country.
Daimler Trucks Financial and Navistar Financial, which had loaned most of the money for Arrow’s tractors and trailers, offered bus tickets to drivers to get home or $200 each for personal travel, if they returned equipment to one of their dealers.
The 61-year-old carrier filed a Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Tulsa on Jan. 8, 2011, listing liabilities of more than $98 million.
In a sentencing memorandum, federal prosecutors said that Pielsticker, although he was paid a company salary of more than $1 million, orchestrated the conspiracy primarily to support his lavish lifestyle.
“This case is about something beyond pedestrian greed; it is about the gluttony of James Douglas Pielsticker,” the memo said.
Federal investigators said that in less than a year, Pielsticker defrauded Transportation Alliance Bank of $11.4 million and stiffed the U.S. Treasury of $10 million in taxes due.
“Combined, it involves a case of unprecedented scale, especially in light of its relatively short duration,” prosecutors said. “Few have stolen so much so quickly.”
Pielsticker’s Tulsa attorney, Paul DeMuro, said that his client has “made bad decisions” but asked that Pielsticker be given a sentence of probation or home detention.
In his sentencing memo, DeMuro depicted Pielsticker as a broken man, going from CEO to Uber driver. The investigation left him with a “newly acquired humility.”
“After Arrow’s demise, the public humiliation and vilification visited upon Mr. Pielsticker compelled him to leave Tulsa, his beloved hometown, and move to Dallas in hopes of starting a new life and provide for his four children,” DeMuro wrote. “The stress of the criminal investigation and prosecution caused Mr. Pielsticker’s marriage to fail.”
Pielsticker now is “keenly aware of the value of a dollar,” the memo said.
But Scott Cruse, special agent in charge of the FBI Oklahoma City office said Pielsticker merited the sentence for abdicating his responsibility as a CEO and attempting to mask his criminal activities.
“In doing so, Pielsticker chose his own personal extravagances over the needs of his employees, which ultimately led to Arrow Trucking closing its doors during the Christmas holidays, a time when all of us count on our paychecks the most,” Cruse said.
