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DOT bust of Pennsylvania trucking company leads to FDA investigation

What began as a crackdown on a Pennsylvania trucking company and its owner for hours-of-service violations developed into an investigation that revealed logbook cover-ups and recycling of multiple loads of condemned milk.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Office of Criminal Investigations.

Dean A. Landis, 45, of Willow Street, PA owner of D.A. Landis Trucking Inc. in Lancaster, PA, was sentenced Tuesday, July 24, in connection with conspiracy to falsify logbooks. The violations occurred from about 2007 through November 2009 and included 10 drivers.

Landis was sentenced to five years probation, including 12 months home detention, plus a $15,000 criminal fine and a special assessment of $100. Landis Trucking was placed on a four-year probation period and fined $250,000, plus a $4,400 special assessment. The company must also implement a comprehensive compliance and ethics plan.

The case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John J. Pease. According to Pease’s office, between 2007 and 2009, Landis instructed his drivers to prepare and maintain false daily logbooks to conceal violations. Investigators found files specifically marked “Not for DOT.”

Landis pleaded guilty March 16, 2012, on his own behalf and on behalf of his truck company.

During that time period, D.A. Landis Trucking Inc. hauled milk from approximately 700 individual dairy farms in Southeastern Pennsylvania to large dairy processors. At least 20 of these loads allegedly tested positive for beta lactum antibiotics using FDA-approved screening tests. Those loads were condemned and ordered to be destroyed by the dairy processor.

Dairy processors, based on information from D.A. Landis Trucking Inc., reported to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania that the condemned milk was dumped at a local farmer's manure pit in Willow Street, PA. However, according to a July press statement from Pease’s office, Landis told the drivers of the rejected loads to return the condemned loads to the trucking yard, where they were pumped into another truck. D.A. Landis Trucking, Inc. drivers then delivered the condemned loads of milk to Lebanon Cheese Company in Lebanon, NJ.

In a press statement released this week, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reported that defendant Joseph Lotito, who was charged separately, purchased the condemned milk for approximately $4 per hundred pounds. The going rate for raw milk at that time ranged from approximately $12 to $23 per hundred pounds, depending on the intended end use.

The drivers and the owner of the trucking company were paid in cash.

Lotito and Lebanon Cheese Co. used the milk to make ricotta cheese, which was then distributed to customers and sold throughout the U.S.

Landis assisted the government in its investigation by providing information that was not included in the search warrant and provided a list of other companies known to have drivers over hours and mechanical issues, according to the sentencing memorandum.

Patty Hartman, Public Affairs Specialist for the U.S. Attorney’s office, told Land Line that Landis also participated in a monitored telephone call to Joseph Lotito, president of the Lebanon Cheese Company.

Lotito was charged in March with introducing adulterated food into interstate commerce. He pleaded guilty in May to purchasing condemned milk from Landis and Landis Trucking. Lotito has not yet been sentenced but is scheduled to appear before the court on July 31.

According to Hartman, Landis and Landis Trucking do not face additional charges.

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