Hours Violators Get Prison Terms
The cases are the first in New England to end in prison sentences for such an offense.
Charles Georgoulakos Jr. and his brother, James, owners of C&J Trucking Co. in Londonderry, N.H., were sentenced to four months in prison for violating federal trucking safety regulations. The company was fined $25,000.
The two men were also ordered to serve eight months in home confinement, followed by one year's probation.
"Criminal prosecutions are part of a growing awareness by the government that they need to enforce the safety regulations through alternative means," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Arnold H. Huftalen, who prosecuted the case. "The civil penalties of the past haven't been as effective as they should have been [in preventing safety violations]."
The Georgoulakoses admitted they permitted truck drivers to violate hours-of-service rules, Department of Transportation officials said.
The corporation executed a scheme to hide illegal hours from detection by FHWA safety investigators who conduct periodic examinations of trucking companies' records. The plan involved paying drivers "off the books" for illegal driving.
The C&S owners will not begin serving their prison time until January 2000, because they are currently in the discovery phase of a civil case that grew out of the crash, Huftalen said. The brothers are also negotiating to sell the company, and the judge was persuaded to postpone the beginning of the jail sentences for about six months to give them time to do that, he said.
At the time of the 1995 crash, C&J employed about 35 drivers and 38 trucks.
