More Employee Departures at Pilot Flying J

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Personnel changes continue at Pilot Flying J as three more employees have left the company and two others were placed on administrative leave.

The shuffling comes on the heels of the abrupt departure on Monday of Mark Hazelwood, who served as president of the Knoxville-based truck stop operator. And all of the changes come 13 months after the FBI and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) raided Pilot Flying J's local headquarters on April 15, 2013. The raid was part of a federal probe into allegations of fraud in the company's fuel rebate program, as CSNews Online previously reported.

According to the Shreveport Times, Kevin Hanscomb of Nashville, who had the title of sales director, Joe Sigurdson, and Ron Carter have left the company. Carter and Sigurdson worked remotely for the company and live in Canada.

Two other employees, Karen Mann and Heather Jones, were placed on administrative leave. Both worked as account representatives.

None of the five have been charged in connection with the federal probe, but 10 other former Pilot Flying J employees have already entered guilty pleas to mail or wire fraud charges, the newspaper reported.

Scott Wombold, who was vice president of national accounts, is also no longer with the company. His attorney, John Kelly, issued a statement saying that his client's departure after 22 years was not connected "to past guilty pleas entered into by former employees."

"Mr. Wombold is grateful for the opportunity to have worked at Pilot Flying J and will assist the company appropriately through this transition," Kelly wrote.