(The Associated Press circulated the following on July 13, 2010.)
ABERDEEN, Miss. — Two Smithville men face a September trial on charges they defrauded the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that 47-year-old Kenny Avery and 44-year-old Allen Duncan pleaded not guilty Monday to one federal count of fraud by wire, radio or television.
Their July 1 indictment, sealed until the hearing, told Magistrate Jerry A. Davis that the men conspired to receive more than $350,000 from BSNF by submitting fictitious invoices for services never rendered.
The newspaper reports Avery was a BNSF employee and Duncan operated Smithville Hardware Co.