WASHINGTON, D.C. -- A Lubbock, Texas, glass and mirror company and its president were charged today with rigging bids on contracts to supply architectural flat glass to general contractors in the Lubbock, Texas area, said the Department of Justice.

In a one-count felony charge, filed in U.S. District Court in Lubbock, Texas, Lubbock Glass & Mirror Company and Delbert Sanders were charged with conspiring with unnamed co- conspirators to submit collusive, noncompetitive, and rigged bids and to increase the profit markups on bids to general contractors for contracts to supply architectural flat glass. Architectural flat glass is fabricated into windows, doors, and curtain walls in new and renovation construction projects.

From March 1991 until at least May 1998, this bid-rigging scheme was accomplished by discussing the submission of prospective bids, agreeing on which corporate co-conspirator would be the low responsive bidder for a contract, and submitting collusive, noncompetitive, and rigged bids with increased profit markups to general contractors.

Joel I. Klein, Assistant Attorney General in charge of the Department's Antitrust Division, said the charge resulted from an investigation into suspected bid rigging in the architectural flat glass industry. The investigation, which is ongoing, is being conducted by the Antitrust Division's Dallas Field Office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Dallas Division.

The maximum penalty for a corporation convicted of violating the Sherman Act is a fine of $10 million. The maximum penalty for an individual convicted of violating the Sherman Act is three years in prison and a fine of $350,000. The fines for both corporations and individuals may be increased to twice the gain derived from the crime by the conspirators or twice the loss suffered by the victims of the crime, if either of those amounts is greater than the statutory maximum fine.