Two indicted in alleged fraud scheme

ST. LOUIS -- Two Missouri men have been indicted on mail fraud charges in an alleged scheme to defraud a container plant out of $400,000, the U.S. Attorney's office said.

Alan Lowes, 46, of Perryville, and Rodney Gale, 41, of DeSoto, each were indicted by a federal grand jury on eight felony counts of mail fraud.

Lowes was arrested Friday. Gale is expected to turn himself in to authorities early next week.

The indictment says that between November 1998 and July 2002, the men schemed to defraud Saint-Gobain Containers, a glass bottle manufacturing plant in Pevely.

Lowes drove for two trucking firms that delivered materials to the Pevely bottling plant.

Gale worked in the bottling plant's receiving department, where he verified receipt of materials and forwarded weight tickets to the accounting department, which determined how much to pay each supplier based on weight.

The indictment alleges that on more than 400 occasions, Lowes obtained extra weight tickets for truckloads of raw materials by having the same truckload weighed more than once. Gale then signed those tickets and forwarded them to accounting for payment. The indictment says Lowes received $400,000 from the bottling company for truckloads that were never delivered. Lowes paid a portion of the money to Gale.