A former Pilot Flying J President is set to be released from house arrest after his conviction was overturned last year.
After more than two years on house arrest, former Pilot Flying J President Mark Hazelwood is scheduled for release following a January 11 decision from the U.S. District Court, WVLT reports.
Hazelwood, along with former Pilot Flying J Vice President Scott Wombold and former regional account representative Heather Jones, are all set to have new trials after a ruling from the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals overturned their convictions in October 2020. The court ruled that U.S. District Judge Curtis Collier had erred in allowing prosecutors to play secret recordings of Hazelwood making racist statements captured during a company meeting in Rockwood in October 2012.
On February 15, 2018, Hazelwood was found guilty on charges of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in connection with an infamous diesel fuel rebate scheme which involved Pilot Flying J employees making false promises to deliver discounted fuel to truckers who they believed were too unsophisticated to notice that they were being conned. Following a 2013 raid of company headquarters, Pilot Flying J took responsibility for the fraud scheme and paid out $92 million in fines to the federal government along with $85 million in settlements. Wombold and Jones were also found guilty on charges connected to the scheme. Hazelwood was later sentenced to 150 months in prison and was issued a $750,000 fine.
A trial date for Hazelwood, Wombold and Jones has not yet been set.