Ex-Beech-Nut Officials Jailed in Juice Fraud

NEW YORK — Two former top executives of Beech-Nut Nutritional Corp. were each sentenced today to a year and a day in jail and fined $100,000 for distributing phony apple juice intended for babies.

“The fraud was too extensive and involved not to be punished,” said U.S. District Judge Thomas Platt in sentencing Neils Hoyvald, 54, the former president and chief executive officer of the company, and co-defendant John Lavery, 56, a former vice president of Beech-Nut.