A judge has sentenced one of several people charged in a Michigan price-fixing schemes to prison. 

Timothy Baugher, a former president of Pontiac, Mi.-based Asphalt Specialists (ASI), pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate federal antitrust law by colluding with F. Allied Construction Co. on driveway, large parking lot and private roadway projects. A judge sentenced him to six months in prison and ordered him to pay a fine of $20,000.

Federal prosecutors filed a criminal complaint against the contract in September in federal court in Detroit. The Dept. of Justice charged Baugher with orchestrating a conspiracy from July 2017 to May 2021 that along with “the co-conspirators coordinated each other’s bid prices so that the agreed-upon losing company would submit intentionally non-competitive bids” that were deliberately expensive to ensure the “winning” company secured the deal.

“The bids gave customers the false impression of competition when, in fact, the co-conspirators had already decided among themselves who would win the contracts” federal prosecutors charge. 

By designating a winner and sharing pricing information, the co-conspirators secured $17.3 million in sales and victimized 46 organization, prosecutors claimed.

According to the Dept. of Justice, four other individuals have pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme and await sentencing. ASI’s former owners and Baugher’s bosses, brothers Bruce Israel and Daniel Israel, could be sentenced as soon as May or June. Two employees of a third asphalt paving contractor also pleaded guilty for their roles in the scheme.

The department is likely to seek jail sentences, previous cases have shown, with the term dependent on the amount of cooperation provided to the prosecutors and dollar amounts of the illegally won profits.

Baugher waived his rights to a jury trial and certain appeals and agreed to cooperate with federal investigations . His plea agreement describes his role and a career arc that began at ASI in sales and rose to president and part owner. In 2019 he held 4% of the non-voting stock.

ASI earned $3.8 million from projects rigged with Allied and $13.5 million from other illegal price fixing conspiracies, totaling $17.3 million. 

As of April 2025, none of the 46 victimized organizations appear to have filed civil lawsuits seeking to recover overcharges. Federal anti-trust law allows victims four years from the date they discovered or should have discovered the bid-rigging to file a civil antitrust lawsuit.

Due to Baugher’s important role in the alleged crimes, prosecutors incorporated in his plea deal a sentencing guidelines range of 10 to 16 months of imprisonment and a fine of $173,509 to $867,548. 

However, Judge Gershwin Drain’s sentencing memorandum recommended a six-month prison term, a $20,000 fine and a $100 special assessment and reflected a substantial reduction because of Baugher’s cooperation. 

Other individuals involved in the bid-rigging have also plead guilty. ASI, as a company, plead guilty to two counts and fined $6.5 million. In a separate but concurrent scheme with Allied, another company involved, Al’s Asphalt received a $795,661.81 fine. The Justice Dept. has recommended a $733,000 fine for Allied.