Former Gate City Leader Sentenced for Money Laundering

The former Gate City Public Works director learns his punishment for a federal money laundering conviction.

U.S. Attorney John Brownlee says a federal judge sentenced Randall Eugene Hurt to two years and three months in prison. Hurt must also pay back $139,962.89 in resistution, and serve three years of supervised release after his prison term.

Hurt previously pleaded guilty to one of federal money laundering. He had been a town employee of Gate City for 25 years. Hurt took over as Public Works Director in the summer of 2005.

Prosecutors say shortly after Hurt became Director, he used his position to buy large amounts of copper pipe with town money. Hurt then took the copper pipe to several recycling companies, sold it without the permission of town leaders, and kept the profits for himself. The sales happened between July 12, 2005 and January 30, 2007.

The IRS, Virginia State Police, and U.S. Attorney's office investigated the case.


http://www.wsls.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WSLS%2FMGArticle%2FSLS_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173354115610&path=!news!localnews