BIRMINGHAM -- A Sylacauga man pleaded guilty today in federal court to a $72,000 wire fraud in connection with a scheme to defraud the Tennessee Valley Authority, announced U.S. Attorney Joyce White Vance.
FRANK LEWIS CONN, 49, entered his plea before U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre to one count of wire fraud. His sentencing is scheduled May 28.
According to the October indictment against Conn, he devised a scheme to defraud the TVA by submitting fraudulently inflated invoices for removing vegetation from power lines and other TVA property between February 2009 and October 2009. During that time, Conn was an owner and manager of Conn Equipment Rental Company, which was doing business as Vegetation Management Services.
The TVA Office of the Inspector General investigated the case, which Assistant U.S. Attorney David Estes is prosecuting.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
