ALBANY — A federal judge sentenced two plant managers connected in the trial of a nationwide salmonella outbreak to prison Thursday.
Samuel Lightsey was sentenced to 36 months in prison with three years of supervised release. Daniel Kilgore was sentenced to 72 months in prison with three years of supervised release. Both men were released on bond until a designated time for them to report to prison.
Lightsey was in charge of day-to-day operations as plant manager at the Peanut Corporation of America plant in Blakely, Georgia. Kilgore held the same position before the company hired Lightsey in 2008.
Samuel Lightsey agreed to testify as part of a plea deal. Kilgore pleaded guilty to federal indictments of mail and wire fraud in Feb. 2013, and also testified in the trial.
Judge Louis Sands sentenced the plant managers after a very emotional morning, as family members and friends testified on behalf of the defendants begging for leniency on Kilgore and Lightsey.
Ultimately Judge Sands granted that, their sentences were actually half of what the government asked the Judge to cap the sentences at. Former plant managers Sammy Lightsey and Daniel Kilgore’s sentencing represents the end of an investigation that started with a federal raid in early 2009.
“Sammy took the right road, tried to work it out, tried to help the government, to get to the other people and to help the victims and work in the case,” said his attorney Jim Parkman.
Lightsey and four other executives were named in a 76-count indictment in 2013 that alleged PCA falsified lab tests and knowingly shipped salmonella-tainted products. The former plant manager pleaded guilty shortly after that indictment and agreed to testify at the trial.
