Sylacauga businessman sentenced in federal couirt

Sylacauga businessman Frank Conn was sentenced Wednesday to 24 months of probation after earlier pleading guilty to one count of wire fraud in federal court.  U.S. District Judge Karon O. Bowdre ordered three months of that probation be served in home confinement.   Conn,  initially entered a plea of not guilty in October after being indicted on five counts of wire fraud in connection with an alleged scheme to defraud the Tennessee Valley Authority. In January, he changed his plea to guilty on one count of fraud. In exchange for his plea, federal prosecutors dismissed the other four counts.  As a condition of his sentence, Conn was ordered to pay $72,000 in restitution, which he has already paid. In addition, Bowdre ordered Conn to write an essay to be published in the local newspaper about the difference between a mistake and an intentional crime.  According to the October indictment against Conn, he had devised a scheme to defraud the TVA of $72,000 by upping the hours equipment was used while removing vegetation from power lines and other TVA property between February 2009 and October 2009. During that time, Conn was an owner and manager of Conn Equipment Rental Company, which was doing business as Vegetation Management Services.  He was paid via wire transfers totaling $284,084.56, and prosecutors initially sought forfeiture of the full amount. Court records contain about 17 character reference letters that were submitted to Bowdre on Conn’s behalf, including letters from former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley, former Probate Judge Dell Hill, Conn’s mother Frances Conn and other business associates and friends.