BOISE – The owner of a fuel truck supply company, Kris Bird, 62, was sentenced today in Boise, Idaho, to three months in prison and a $24,000 fine for his role in schemes to rig bids, allocate territories, and commit wire fraud over an eight-year period. Further, Bird was ordered to forfeit to the federal government $1,542,387 as proceeds of his wire fraud offenses. The conspiracies Bird participated in related to contracts to provide fuel trucks that assist the U.S. Forest Service’s efforts to battle wildfires in Idaho and the mountain west.
Bird pleaded guilty in March 2025 — two weeks before his trial was set to begin — to the seven-count indictment. The plea followed an investigation that involved evidence from a judicially authorized wiretap and led to charges against two executives in December 2023. Earlier this month on June 5, Bird’s co-defendant, Ike Tomlinson, 61, was sentenced to 12 months in prison and a $20,000 fine for his leadership role in the criminal conduct.
“Mr. Bird stole taxpayer funds allocated for critical wildfire-fighting efforts protecting the American people to line his own pockets,” said Assistant Attorney General Abigail Slater of the Justice Department’s Antitrust Division. “The Trump Antitrust Division’s Procurement Collusion Strike Force and its law enforcement partners will continue the fight to ensure that the fraudulent use of taxpayer money results in incarceration.”…