The former long-time chief executive of Blue Bell Creameries is facing felony charges alleging he directed a conspiracy at the ice cream maker to conceal unsanitary conditions at its plants and a 2015 listeria outbreak that ended up killing three people.
Paul Kruse, who retired from Blue Bell three years ago, was behind a cover-up to hide "potential and/or confirmed listeria contamination in Blue Bell products from certain Blue Bell customers," according to the U.S. Justice Department, which charged him with criminal conspiracy Friday in U.S. District Court in Travis County, Texas.
In addition, the Justice Department announced Friday that Brenham-based Blue Bell has agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges that it shipped contaminated products linked to the 2015 outbreak, and to pay a total of $19.35 million in fines, forfeitures and civil settlements.
The payment marks the second-highest ever to resolve a food-safety matter, according to the department.
The felony charges against Kruse contend he and other Blue Bell employees _ "known and unknown" _ participated in a conspiracy to cover up the contamination. Kruse, who allegedly orchestrated the cover-up, and the unnamed employees were aware beginning "at least" in 2010 that "appropriate practices to ensure sanitary conditions were not being followed or achieved at the Blue Bell manufacturing facilities," according to the charges.
If convicted of conspiracy, Kruse faces up to 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. He has been charged with six additional counts of wire fraud and attempted wire fraud that also carry prison sentences and fines.
Chris Flood, an attorney for Kruse, said in a written statement Friday that Kruse is innocent.
"We look forward to telling the whole story of how my client along with all of the other employees of Blue Bell did the best they could with the information they had at the time," Flood said.
Blue Bell representatives didn't immediately respond to requests for comment Friday.
The company _ one of the country's largest ice cream makers _ had long been a celebrated Texas brand before it was rocked by the listeria outbreak five years ago. Blue Bell, which is more than a century old, endured significant hits to its finances and reputation after the reports of listeria started coming in, and it shut down production for a time in 2015 and recalled 8 million gallons of ice cream.
In all, 10 people fell ill and three died.
During the shutdown, the company deep-cleaned its three plants in Brenham, Sylacauga, Ala., and Broken Arrow, Okla., replaced some equipment and reworked procedures. In 2018, the state of Texas said it had completed an enforcement agreement with Blue Bell that had allowed operations to resume under expanded monitoring.
According to the federal charges filed Friday against Kruse, the goal of the conspiracy he engaged in "was to obtain money from Blue Bell's customers by means of false and fraudulent pretenses, representations and promises."
Federal prosecutors cite a number of examples beginning in 2010 in which they contend Kruse was informed about sanitation problems in Blue Bell manufacturing plants, such as condensation and roof leaks, but either ignored them or ordered employees to stop testing for certain pathogens.
In one instance, according to the charges, a Blue Bell quality-control employee "destroyed hard copy and electronic records" of two presumptive positive tests for listeria on orders to do so from Kruse.
"Blue Bell subsequently shipped the products that tested presumptive positive for listeria to customers without any further testing," the charges state.
In addition, the Justice Department said in a written statement Friday that Kruse "directed other Blue Bell employees (in 2015) to remove potentially contaminated products from store freezers without notifying retailers or consumers about the real reason for the withdrawal."
He directed his employees "to tell customers who asked why products were removed that there had been an unspecified issue with a manufacturing machine instead of that samples of the products had tested positive for listeria," the department said.
But Flood, Kruse's attorney, said such allegations are false. "We have confidence that a Texas jury will see it that way and let Blue Bell get back to making the best ice cream in America," he said.
