SIOUX CITY, Iowa (AP) — Sentencing has been scheduled for a former manager at Iowa egg farms who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to bribe a federal inspector. U.S. District Judge Mark Bennett this week ordered Tony Wasmund to appear Feb. 12 in his courtroom in Sioux City. Wasmund has been free pending sentencing, where he will face a maximum of five years in prison. Wasmund was a supervisor at the network of companies owned by Jack DeCoster, whose operations in northern Iowa were blamed for a 2010 salmonella outbreak that caused the recall of 550 million eggs.
Months before the outbreak, Wasmund authorized giving $300 in petty cash to another employee to bribe a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector to allow sales of shell eggs that had been withheld for failing to meet federal standards.