Investigations

On March 16, 2017, Beam Bros Trucking, Inc. (BBT); Beam Bros Holding Corporation LLC (Beam Holding); Gerald Beam, president and chief executive officer; Garland Beam, vice president; Shaun Beam, operations manager; and Nickolas Kozel, chief financial officer, were charged in U.S. District Court, Harrisonburg, Virginia. In a 126-count indictment, the defendants were charged with conspiracy, falsifying records, false statements, wire fraud, wire fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy. Beam Holding is the sole owner of BBT.

 

BBT is one of the Nation’s largest contract carriers of mail for the United States Postal Service (USPS). Over the last 10 years, USPS paid BBT more than half a billion dollars. From June 1999 to March 2017, BBT and its principals allegedly conspired to defraud the United States by impeding the lawful Government functions of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA), DOL, and USPS. BBT was charged with making trip schedules that violated Hours of Service (HOS) regulations and falsifying drivers’ record of duty status to hide HOS violations. FMCSA conducted two previous compliance investigations where enforcement action was taken due to HOS violations that endangered the traveling public.

 

BBT was also charged with violating the Service Contract Act, which requires Federal contractors to pay its employees for all time worked. DOL’s Wage and Hour Division investigated BBT two previous times, which resulted in back pay for drivers.

 

DOT-OIG conducted this investigation jointly with DOL-OIG, USPS-OIG, and Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigations, and with assistance from FMCSA.

 

Note: Indictments, informations, and criminal complaints are only accusations by the Government. All defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty.