OKLAHOMA CITY – A Weatherford company, one of its officers and another employee have been indicted in federal district court here in connection with a price-fixing conspiracy that targeted more than $100 million in publicly funded transportation construction contracts in Oklahoma.
Four other men, including a Lawtonian, previously pleaded guilty for their roles in the conspiracy, which one official described as “brazen collusion.”
A federal grand jury alleges that Vice President BG Dale Biscoe, Randall David Shelton and Sioux Erosion Control conspired with competitors in the erosion control industry to raise and maintain prices for products and services from approximately September 2017 through April 2023.
Erosion control products and services, including sod, are used to control runoff of soil or rock on highway construction and repair projects. In addition to conspiring to raise prices for sod, it is alleged that the defendants and their co conspirators agreed to divide up contracts across different areas of Oklahoma and rigged bids for particular projects by submitting intentionally high-priced bids or outright refusing to bid.
Biscoe, Shelton and Sioux are charged with a violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act. The maximum penalty for individuals is 10 years in prison and a $1 million criminal fine; the maximum penalty for a corporation is a $100 million criminal fine. If convicted, a federal district court judge will determine any sentence after considering the U.S. sentencing guidelines and other statutory factors.
Four erosion control company owners or managers, including a Lawton resident, previously admitted rigging bids and fixing prices in the same conspiracy. Those conspirators were:
• Ryan Ashley Sullivan, 46, of Lawton, who was identified in court records as an owner and vice president of Green Turf Sod in southeast Lawton; he pleaded guilty in Oklahoma City’s federal district court 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; now he is self-employed.
• James Travis Feazel, 49, was an estimator and operations manager with Sioux Erosion Control; 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 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 2023 petition to plead guilty.
Those four men have not been sentenced yet.
“This indictment shows the commitment of the Justice Department and its Procurement Collusion Strike Force partners to protect taxpayer dollars throughout Oklahoma and across the country from brazen collusion,” said Assistant Attorney General Jonathan Kanter of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.
“This investigation demonstrates our commitment to working with law enforcement and prosecutorial partners to uproot and expose brazen fraud schemes devised purely for personal gain,” said Special Agent in Charge Joseph Harris of the Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, Southern Region.