Iowa Owner Draws 6-Month Sentence
John E. Hoth, owner of Shuttle Service Express in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was fined $10,000 and ordered to pay $13,632.90 to cover the cost of his confinement and probation.
Michael Melloy, Chief U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Iowa, also ordered Mr. Hoth to use a monitoring system that would prohibit log violations. Mr. Hoth will have to pay for the cost of that system. He also must pay for random audits and inspections to make sure his company obeys federal trucking regulations.
“He’ll have to submit a proposal for the monitoring system, and then that will have to be reviewed by the judge, who will decide what kind of system is to be put in place,” said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Teig.
It’s not as final as they’re saying; we’ve got a chance to appeal,” he said. “If you look at the newspapers, it would seem I made out all the logs and falsified the logs, but I didn’t make one out. I wasn’t even here to correct them. It was the bookkeeping system that was here to correct them.”
Last October, Mr. Hoth was charged with one count of conspiracy to defraud the government and 25 counts of making false statements to a government agency for his role in falsifying his drivers’ hours of service records. He pleaded guilty to the charges in July.
Six of Mr. Hoth’s drivers were also involved. William E. Boots of Hiawatha, Iowa; James A. Nelson and Michael A. Nelson of Iowa City, Iowa; Michael J. Fannon of Edgewood, Iowa; Ted R. Wille of Garnavillo, Iowa; and Tony J. Wille of Monona, Iowa, each pleaded guilty to one count of making false certifications.
The drivers will be sentenced Dec. 1. Each faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison and fines of up to $100,000.
Sentencing for the company is set for Nov. 30. It could be fined up to $500,000 for conspiring to defraud the government and making false statements on drivers’ logs.
