Stiff sentence given in Coca-Cola case

A federal judge ignored a plea for mercy by a former Coca-Cola secretary Wednesday and sentenced her to eight years in prison for conspiring to steal trade secrets from the beverage maker.

U.S. District Judge J. Owen Forrester told Joya Williams, 42, that he was giving her a longer sentence than recommended by federal prosecutors and sentencing guidelines because “this is the kind of offense that cannot be tolerated in our society.”

Williams had faced up to 10 years in prison on the single conspiracy charge in a failed scheme to sell Coke’s trade secrets to rival Pepsi for at least $1.5 million.

But sentencing guidelines, which federal judges are not bound by, called for a sentence of 63 months to 78 months. Williams was convicted Feb. 2 after a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, where Coca-Cola Co. is based.

A codefendant, Ibrahim Dimson, was sentenced to five years in prison.

Forrester ignored a tearful apology by Williams, which marked the first time she acknowledged what she did. Williams had testified during the trial that she did not commit a crime.

“Your honor, I have expanded my consciousness through this devastating experience,” Williams said before sentencing. “This has been a very defining moment in my life. I have become infamous when I never wanted to become famous.”

The government said Williams stole confidential documents and samples of products that hadn’t been launched by Coca-Cola and gave them to Dimson and a third defendant, Edmund Duhaney, as part of a conspiracy to sell the items to Pepsi. Duhaney, like Dimson, pleaded guilty to conspiracy.

The conspiracy was foiled after Pepsi warned Coca-Cola that it had received a letter in May 2006 offering Coca-Cola trade secrets to the “highest bidder.” The FBI launched an undercover investigation and identified the letter writer as Dimson.