OKLAHOMA CITY – Four erosion control company owners or managers, including a Lawtonian, admitted rigging bids and fixing prices in a conspiracy targeting more than $100 million in publicly funded transportation construction contracts across Oklahoma.
The conspirators were:
• Ryan Ashley Sullivan, 46, of Lawton, is identified in court records as an owner and vice president of Green Turf Sod in southeast Lawton; he pleaded guilty in federal district court here on Oct. 11, 2023.
• Roy Henry Heinrich, 65, was a vice president of El Reno Sod Farm in Canadian County until Nov. 30, 2023, when he pleaded guilty; he is now self-employed.
• James Travis Feazel, 49, was an estimator and operations manager with Sioux Erosion Control, of Weatherford; he informed the court that now he works for a bridge contractor. Feazel pleaded guilty Sept. 12, 2023.
• Stanley Mark Smith, 65, was part-owner and vice president of Verdigris Valley Sod Farms in Claremore. He pleaded guilty on Feb. 20, 2024.
Court documents filed in the U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City show that Smith, Heinrich, Sullivan and Feazel conspired along with others to rig bids, fix prices and allocate contracts for erosion control products and services on public projects.
Starting in 2017, the four and their co-conspirators agreed to raise prices and divvy up contracts across different areas of Oklahoma, prosecutors wrote. As part of this criminal conspiracy, they often submitted intentionally high-priced bids or outright refused to bid.
Smith’s company focused on contracts worth $42.3 million as part of the conspiracy, and Feazel’s company targeted more than $50 million worth of contracts; both admitted continuing their conspiracy into April 2023.
Smith was “an organizer or leader in criminal activity that involved five or more participants or was otherwise extensive,” prosecutors alleged. He admitted conspiring “with others to suppress and eliminate competition by allocating contracts, rigging bids, and raising and maintaining prices for erosion control services, including solid slab sodding.” Many of the projects that Smith and his co-conspirators bid on “used federal funding, including funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation,” the complaint points out.
Feazel was “an organizer, leader, member, or supervisor” in the conspiracy, prosecutors said. He admitted conspiring “with my superiors and at least one co-worker and with employees of competing sod companies to reduce or eliminate competition in awarding bids to install sod on public construction projects.”
Heinrich’s company targeted more than $7 million worth of contracts.
Sullivan admitted that from May 2017 through April 2019 “I participated in an agreement with at least one other erosion control services company to discuss pricing. The intent of this agreement was to increase revenue for my company,” he wrote in his Oct. 11, 2023, petition to plead guilty.
“Protecting fair and open marketplace competition is essential to protect taxpayers and to ensure consumers can trust publicly funded contracts” said Robert J. Troester, U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Oklahoma.
Bid rigging and price fixing “cheat American workers and consumers while harming competitive markets,” said Special Agent in Charge Edward J. Gray of the FBI Oklahoma City Field Office.
The defendants pleaded guilty to violating the Sherman Antitrust Act, which prohibits activities that restrict interstate commerce and competition in the marketplace.
Each of the four men faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine. In addition, at least one court document states that restitution “to victims of their illegal conduct” will be mandated.
A federal district court judge will impose sentences later.