A federal grand jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio returned two indictments charging Japanese automotive parts companies, their U.S. subsidiaries, and a total of five executives for their alleged participation in international conspiracies to eliminate competition in the sale of automotive parts sold in the United States and elsewhere, the Justice Department announced today.

One of the indictments, filed today in Cincinnati, charges Tokai Kogyo Co. Ltd., its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Green Tokai Co. Ltd., and Akitada Tazumi with conspiring to rig bids for and fix the prices of automotive body sealing products sold to Honda Motor Company Ltd. and certain of its subsidiaries and affiliates for installation in vehicles manufactured and sold in the United States and elsewhere.  Automotive body sealing products consist of body-side opening seals, door-side weather-stripping, glass-run channels, trunk lids and other smaller seals, which are installed into automobiles to keep the interior dry from rain and free from wind and exterior noises.

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In a separate indictment, also filed in Cincinnati, Maruyasu Industries Co. Ltd., its wholly-owned U.S. subsidiary, Curtis-Maruyasu America Inc. (CMA), Tadao Hirade, Satoru Murai, Kazunori Kobayashi and Yoshihiro Shigematsu were charged with conspiring to fix prices, allocate customers, and rig bids for automotive steel tubes sold in the United States and elsewhere.  Automotive steel tubes are used in fuel distribution, braking, and other automotive systems and are sometimes divided into two categories – chassis tubes and engine parts.  As their names suggest, chassis tubes, such as brake and fuel tubes, tend to be located in the body of a vehicle while engine parts, such as fuel injection rails, oil level tubes, and oil strainer tubes, are associated with the function of a vehicle’s engine.

“These defendants, as is their right, have chosen to put the government to its burden of proof, and we accept that challenge without hesitation,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brent Snyder of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division.  “We will not be deterred from holding those involved – both corporations and individuals – accountable for their actions, and we welcome the opportunity to prove our cases to a jury.”

“The FBI is committed to aggressively investigating individuals who engage in criminal conduct that corrupts the global marketplace,” said Special Agent in Charge Howard Marshal of the FBI’s Louisville Division.  “We will continue our work with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division to uncover schemes aimed at creating an unfair competitive advantage by way of price fixing, bid rigging or other illegal means.”

“The Department of Commerce Office of Inspector General is dedicated to working in conjunction with the DOJ Antitrust Division in protecting the U.S. economy from the type of criminal activity revealed in this case,” said Special Agent in Charge Duane Townsend of the Department of Commerce’s Office of Inspector General.  “The charges today represent our diligent cooperative efforts to identify such activity and seek prosecution, whether committed by domestic or international sources, and to deter future attempts to damage our economy through criminal enterprise.”

According to the indictment charging Tokai Kogyo, Green Tokai, and Tazumi, the defendants, along with their co-conspirators, participated in meetings and conversations to discuss the allocation of sales of automotive body sealing products, and the bids and price quotations that they would submit to Honda.  The indictment charges that the conspirators agreed on, and exchanged information about, bids, price quotations, and price adjustments to be submitted to Honda, and agreed to allocate sales of automotive body sealing products sold to Honda.  The conspirators concealed their conduct by using code in e-mails and instructing e-mail recipients to delete e-mails referencing coordination with competitors, according to the charge.

Tokai Kogyo, Green Tokai, and Tazumi allegedly participated in the automotive body sealing products conspiracy from at least as early as March 2008 until at least August 2011.  During this period, Tazumi served as Assistant General Manager at Tokai Kogyo, an Obu, Japan-based company that manufactured and sold automotive body sealing products.

According to the indictment charging Maruyasu Industries, CMA, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu, the defendants, along with their co-conspirators, participated in and directed subordinate employees to participate in meetings conversations, and communications in which they agreed to customer allocations as well as bids, prices and price adjustments to be submitted to customers in the United States and elsewhere.  The indictment also alleges that the defendants and their conspirators employed measures to conceal their conduct, including meeting surreptitiously and adopting means and methods of communication designed to avoid detection.

Maruyasu Industries, CMA, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu allegedly participated in the automotive steel tubes conspiracy from at least as early as December 2003 until at least as late as July 9, 2011.  During this period, Hirade, Murai, Kobayashi and Shigematsu served as sales executives at Maruyasu Industries, headquartered in Aichi Prefecture in Japan.  Additionally, Kobayashi and Shigematsu each served as sales coordinators at Kentucky-based CMA for several years during the conspiracy.

The charges contained in these indictments are allegations and not evidence of guilt.  The defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.

The companies charged today are the first companies to be indicted in the ongoing federal antitrust investigation into price fixing, bid rigging and other anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry, which is being conducted by the Antitrust Division’s criminal enforcement sections and the FBI.  A total of 64 individuals and 44 companies have been charged and have agreed to pay more than $2.7 billion in criminal fines.  These indictments were brought by the Antitrust Division’s Chicago Office, the FBI’s Louisville Field Office, Covington Resident Agency, and the Department of Commerce’s Denver Field Office, with the assistance of the FBI’s International Corruption Unit, the FBI’s Cincinnati Field Office, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Ohio.  Anyone with information about anticompetitive conduct in the automotive parts industry should contact the Antitrust Division’s Citizen Complaint Center at 888-647-3258, visit www.justice.gov/atr/contact/newcase.html or the FBI’s Louisville Field Office at 502-263-6000.

A man is in police custody following a gas station robbery in Lexington Wednesday morning.

It happened around 2:30 a.m. at the Speedway on Tates Creek Road.

Police say a security alarm company witnessed the suspect break into the gas station and take several cartons of cigarettes before fleeing the scene.

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Authorities spotted a vehicle matching the getaway car’s description the suspect used to flee.

Eventually, the man was located in the Woodhill Area and arrested.

The identity of the suspect is unknown at this time.

The Westerville Division of Police is looking for a missing endangered woman last seen Sunday morning.

Jean Gotthardt, 56, was last seen driving a 2002 red Ford Taurus with FIN8854 as the license plate number around 9:30 a.m. on June 12.

She’s 5′ 2″, 135 lbs. with brown hair and blue eyes.

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Police and family members believe she may try to harm herself.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts are asked to call Westerville Police at (614) 882-7444.

A Pike County man was indicted on multiple felony charges of election fraud in connection with the recent statewide primary, according to Attorney General Andy Beshear.

A press released from Beshear’s Offie claims that a Franklin County grand jury charged Keith Justice, 50, with four counts of intimidating an election officer and one count of interfering with an election involving a precinct in Pike County May 17.

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After the Pike County clerk’s office received a complaint, the Attorney General’s Department of Criminal Investigations investigated the case.

“The Attorney General is responsible for investigating and prosecuting election law violations,” Beshear said. “We take seriously our duty to ensure honest and fair elections for all Kentuckians.”

An indictment is a charge, not a conviction or a conclusion of a person’s guilt.

Herndon Police are looking for a sex offender who allegedly took photos of a child at a library.

Police say while 58-year-old Steven Michael Edwards did not commit a crime at the library, they’ve learned he is a registered sex offender in Florida but has failed to update his information since moving to Virginia.

The incident that drew their attention to Edwards happened Saturday at the Herndon Library on Center Street. Police were called there for a report of two men getting into a fight.

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One of the men was the father of a little girl. He spotted the other man reaching his hand and cellphone through the bookshelves to take photos of the child.

When he confronted the man, their interaction got heated. The girl’s father grabbed the man’s phone but the suspect had fled by the time police arrived.

Edwards is five feet, five inches tall and weighs 125 pounds. He has brown hair and green eyes.

Herndon Police said Edwards is believed to be homeless and is known to frequent libraries in the area.

Anyone with information is asked to call 703-435-6846.

Lexington firefighters have tips to keep you from losing money to a new scam.

On two separate occasions, scammers have gone door-to-door around Lexington asking for donations for the Lexington Fire Department or the Fraternal Order of Firefighters.

Lexington Fire Department Captain Chris Bartley says that it happened at a home in the Man O’ War area while the other was at a business on Winchester Road.

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He says it is too early to say if the two are connected.

“We don’t know yet,” said Bartley. “Our investigators are looking at the evidence I guess you would say.”

Leaders at the fire department tell LEX 18 that if you come across a scammer, there are plenty of warning signs to look for.

If the person is not in uniform, ask for a badge or identification card.

“Somebody who can’t tell you where the money is going is also a red flag as well,” said Bartley.

Ask how your contribution will be used and get written information. They also suggest calling the organization to verify the fundraiser’s authenticity.

Beware if the scammer makes threats against your home or business.

If you come across a scam, call the Lexington Police.

The Minooka Police Department is continuing to investigate multiple reports of identity theft within the village.

After a recent press release announcing the investigation, the department has received an additional 65 reports of identity theft. Police are currently going through each report and bank statement and organizing where each victim’s fraudulent transaction occurred.

“What we do know is each incident is different and the transactions that have occurred in the Village are all over and not related to one single business,” police said.

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Victims have used cards as Dunkin’ Donuts, but have not used that same card at the fuel pumps at BP or Caseys, all of which have been implicated in the identity theft scam.

Police have still not ruled out skimming devices and are looking into credit card scanners, which allows the scammer to stand next to you and scan the cards in your wallet.

Police are asking for patience as they investigate the incidents.

“These type of cases take a lot of time and resources,” police said.

If you have any questions about your case, contact the police department at 815-467-2298.

A McMinnville man reported missing by his wife over the weekend has been found dead from an apparent suicide.