CONCRETE TESTING EXECUTIVE SENTENCED TO UP TO 21 YEARS
V. Reddy Kancharla
McLaughlin ordered Kancharla to pay $225 000 in reparations by Dec. 14 or another year would be added to his prison term. He also ordered Testwell to pay $1 761 099 in reparations. He said he hoped Kancharla's sentence would be a deterrent to the "variety of schemes and conniving" that he said characterized the building business.
 Assistant District Attorney Diana Florence asked McLaughlin to impose a penalty "at the upper levels" of the sentence range  saying Kancharla was eligible for a term ranging from 1 to 3 years to 10 to 30 years.
 But Kancharla's lawyer  Paul Shechtman  said his client  "a good man" and the "anchor of his family " had conducted business no differently from other testing companies.
 A moment later  Kancharla rose to address the court. He wore a brace on his neck  a remnant of one of two recent suicide attempts. The first was in February  when he cut his wrist and took sleeping pills after a jury convicted him on one charge and deliberated on others. In April  he tried to hang himself
 "In retrospect  I should have paid more attention to the concrete mix design program and should have implemented more checks and balances " he told McLaughlin. "Despite the jury's verdict  I want you to know that Testwell was not a criminal enterprise  and that I am not a criminal mastermind."
McLaughlin ordered [TGT] to pay $225 000 in reparations by Dec. 14 or another year would be added to his prison term. He also ordered Testwell to pay $1 761 099 in reparations. He said he hoped [TGT]'s sentence would be a deterrent to the "variety of schemes and conniving" that he said characterized the building business.
 Assistant District Attorney Diana Florence asked McLaughlin to impose a penalty "at the upper levels" of the sentence range  saying [TGT] was eligible for a term ranging from 1 to 3 years to 10 to 30 years.
 But [TGT]'s lawyer  Paul Shechtman  said his client  "a good man" and the "anchor of his family " had conducted business no differently from other testing companies.
 A moment later  [TGT] rose to address the court. He wore a brace on his neck  a remnant of one of two recent suicide attempts. The first was in February  when he cut his wrist and took sleeping pills after a jury convicted him on one charge and deliberated on others. In April  he tried to hang himself
 "In retrospect  I should have paid more attention to the concrete mix design program and should have implemented more checks and balances " he told McLaughlin. "Despite the jury's verdict  I want you to know that Testwell was not a criminal enterprise  and that I am not a criminal mastermind."