Auyers given federal prison time
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Anthony C. Auyer and Teresa R. Auyer of Huntsville, Ala., were sentenced after a federal prosecutor told the judge ?we expect more charges in the case.? Cooper, D-McMinnville, is named as an unindicted co-conspirator.
?We are still investigating,? Assistant U.S. Attorney Gary Humble said. ?This is not the end of it.?
U.S. District Judge R. Allan Edgar sentenced Anthony Auyer to 34 months in prison and his wife to 18 months. He allowed them each 30 days to report.
Edgar said the sentences were less than federal court sentencing guidelines.
The couple pleaded guilty to bank fraud, money-laundering conspiracy, money laundering and wire fraud on the eve of a scheduled April trial. A jury acquitted a co-defendant, real estate appraiser Jimmy Passons of McMinnville, of charges he inflated the valuation of a lumber mill Cooper was selling to the Auyers.
Cooper sold the property to Auyer in 1999 based on Passons? appraisal.
The indictment contends the unindicted coconspirator ?used his political contacts, connections and influence? to help Anthony Auyer obtain a $1.77 million federally insured loan from BankTennessee.
The sale was accompanied by a commitment from the Tennessee Department of Community Development that a grant would be issued to Auyer to build the rail spur, records show.
State officials said the spur was never built.
?What happened here is he (Auyer) got in over his head … probably didn?t know what he was doing and took the easy way out,? the judge said. ?I am bothered a bit that some other folks who are the instigators may get by without being sanctioned.?
Teresa Auyer, who handled financial transactions for her husband’s rail tie business, sobbed as she told the judge she was ?sorry? for her involvement.
Defense attorneys have said privately that the government?s real target in the case is Cooper, who has not been charged.
Cooper’s attorney, Jerry Summers, has said Humble identified Cooper as a ?potential target.? Summers said in a telephone interview Monday that the jury in Passons? trial ?resolved the issue pertaining to Mr. Cooper?s involvement in this matter. The issues pertaining to the Auyers are entirely different.?
A legislative subcommittee previously decided Cooper did not use his influence as a lawmaker in a $292,255 Tennessee Industrial Infrastructure Program grant and $500,000 Community Development Block Grant loan obtained for the lumber mill in Warren County.
The judge Monday also ordered Auyer to pay restitution totaling $1.3 million to reimburse the state and BankTennessee. Teresa Auyer must pay restitution totaling $173,000. Defense attorneys said selling the lumber mill property would help pay the restitution.