U.S. trucking company sentenced for violating FMCSA safety regulations

Formerly one of the top contract carriers for the U.S. Postal Service, Beam Bros Trucking, along with its holding company and four corporate officers, were sentenced for violating Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.    Beam Bros Trucking, Inc. (BBT), its holding company, Beam Bros Holding Corp. LLC (Beam Holding), and four of its corporate officers were all sentenced in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia in Harrisonburg on Nov. 28 for violating Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) regulations.
   Based out of Mount Crawford, Va., BBT was one of the nation’s largest contract carriers of mail for the U.S. Postal Service (USPS).
   BBT and Beam Holding were jointly sentenced by the court last week to pay $3.25 million, which includes a $2 million forfeiture, a $250,000 fine, and approximately $1 million in restitution to drivers defrauded of their pay, according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General (DOT-OIG).
   President and CEO Gerald Beam, along with Vice President Garland Beam were both sentenced to a six-month home confinement, two years of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $5,000 fine.
   In addition, Operations Manager Shaun Beam and Chief Financial Officer Nickolas Kozel were both sentenced to a three-month home confinement, two years of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $2,000 fine.
   “On May 16, 2017, BBT and Beam Holding pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States,” the DOT-OIG said. “Specifically, they were charged with falsification of records in contemplation of a Federal matter, which include drivers’ records of duty status (RODs) and timesheets. Gerald Beam, Garland Beam, Shaun Beam, and Nickolas Kozel each pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, i.e., that they knowingly violated FMCSA’s highway safety regulations.”
   The USPS had paid BBT more than $500 million over the last 10 years.
   Between 1999 and 2017, the trucking company knowingly encouraged, permitted, caused or required its truck drivers to make trips in violation of the FMCSA’s safety regulations by creating routes that could not be completed within the hours of service regulations and causing drivers to falsely record their duty statuses, according to the DOT-OIG.
   The FMCSA conducted five previous compliance investigations, and in two of them, enforcement action was taken and a civil fine was assessed due to hours of service violations.
   The DOT-OIG jointly conducted this investigation with the U.S. Department of Labor OIG, the USPS-OIG, and the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation division, along with assistance from the FMCSA.