Three sentenced for defrauding pharmaceutical company

AUGUSTA - Two men have been sentenced to federal prison for defrauding the maker of the arthritis drug Celebrex out of $1.5 million by inflating construction costs, federal officials said Friday. <br> <br> Another man was sentenced to four years probation for mail fraud in a small part of the scheme, which federal authorities said netted him less than $10,000. <br> <br> The government said the conspiracy involved Two State&#39;s retrofitting of Monsanto/Searle Corp. plants in Augusta and Puerto Rico to manufacture Celebrex. <br> <br> U.S. District Judge Dudley H. Bowen Jr. sentenced Two State Construction Co. president Clifford C. Poston, 48, of Thomson to two and one-half years in prison. Poston, who pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy, mail fraud and tax evasion, also was ordered to pay Monsanto/Searle $1.5 million and to pay $915,000 in back taxes, U.S. Attorney Rick Thompson said. <br> <br> Monsanto/Seare&#39;s former chief engineer, Darwin A. Schneider, 44, formerly of Grovetown, Ga., was sentenced to three years and two months for taking kickbacks in exchange for allowing overcharges paid to Poston&#39;s company. <br> <br> Schneider, of Harbor Beach, Mich., agreed in his guilty plea to pay $2 million in back taxes and repay Monsanto/Searle $1,5 million. <br> <br> Joseph J. Ribordy, 58, of Lake Zurich, Ill., who was the Puerto Rico project&#39;s accountant, must also pay a fine of $50,000 and serve the first six months of his probation in home confinement, Thompson said.