Posted: Friday, Oct. 29, 2010

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/2010/10/29/1795920/man-sentenced-in-money-laundering.html

A Bessemer City man was sentenced to two years in prison this week for his role in a $1.2 million money laundering scheme.

From 2001 to 2007, federal prosecutors say, Donald Eugene Bess, 53, and another defendant who previously was sentenced in the case deposited $1.2 million in fraudulently obtained checks generated by a former claims manager of Farm Bureau Insurance of North Carolina into their respective businesses.

Bess operated a body shop named Bess Used Car Wrecker Service, prosecutors said.

He and co-defendant Ray Eugene Rohm, 60, of Dallas, N.C., also collected a fee from the agent for conducting the financial transaction, U.S. Attorney Anne Tompkins said.

Bess pleaded guilty in the case in December 2009. Rohm pleaded guilty in September 2009 and was sentenced to two years in prison in June. He owned and operated Rohm Enterprises, a window treatment business.

Chief District Judge Robert Conrad Jr. also ordered Rohm to pay $842,288 in restitution and Bess to pay $549,789 in restitution.

Federal sentences are served without the possibility of parole, Tompkins said. Joe Marusak