O.C. Man Gets Two Years in Honda Bribery Case : Courts: Thomas Caulfield is also fined $67,000. He was one of 22 indicted and found guilty in the kickback scheme.

In the first sentencing in the American Honda Motor Co. bribery case, an Orange County man was given a two-year prison term Monday for his role in the $15-million bribery and kickback scheme that flourished throughout the 1980s.

Thomas Caulfield of Foothill Ranch, one of 22 indicted and found guilty, also was fined $67,000 in what federal prosecutors called the biggest commercial bribery scheme ever uncovered in the United States.

Caulfield, a former assistant advertising manager for the Torrance importer and distributor of Honda automobiles, pleaded guilty last year to mail fraud for receiving $816,000 in advertising kickbacks from dealers who hoped for favorable treatment in return.

A second Orange County man, former American Honda executive vice president Stanley James Cardiges of Laguna Hills, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday. Federal prosecutors painted Cardiges as one of the kingpins of the bribery ring and said he received as much as $5 million in cash and goods from dealers.

The American Honda executives received cash, jewelry, shopping sprees, automobiles and other gifts from businessmen eager to do work for Honda and from dealers eager for lucrative franchises and scarce automobiles.

The bribery ring was fueled by the huge demand and often short supplies during the 1980s for Hondas and for the company’s luxury Acura models. Dealers could, and often did, charge $2,000 to $3,000 above the sticker price for the most sought-after models.

Cardiges pleaded guilty to charges of conspiracy, fraud, racketeering and witness tampering in February--on the morning his trial was to have begun. He became a key government witness against two fellow defendants who subsequently were convicted after a four-month trial.

Cardiges faces 35 years in prison and a $1-million fine. But his cooperation with authorities is expected to result in a reduced sentence.

In a second sentencing Monday, Robert Mazzitelli of Alpharetta, Ga., was sentenced to 20 months in prison and fined $10,000. The former manager for Honda’s Southeast zone pleaded guilty to mail fraud for receiving $380,000 in dealer and advertising kickbacks.

In all, a federal grand jury in New Hampshire indicted 24 people, including 16 former American Honda executives. Charges against two were subsequently dismissed.

All but two of the remaining defendants pleaded guilty. The two who stood trial--retired Honda sales vice president John Billmyer of Raleigh, N.C., and former West Coast sales manager Dennis Josleyn of Loveland, Colo.--were convicted in June and are appealing.

“The sentencing of these former employees who have admitted to defrauding our company helps bring closure to a difficult period in our history,” American Honda spokesman Kurt Antonius said Monday. “We maintain confidence in our thousands of loyal and honest dealers and employees.”

The case unfolded in New Hampshire after a dealer there sued American Honda in federal court, claiming he had been treated unfairly by the company. Allegations of graft during the civil trial, which has since been settled, prompted the judge to ask for a criminal investigation. American Honda contended that such a move was unnecessary.

The case took off when a former company executive came forward with tales of widespread graft, greed and payoffs.

Although both government prosecutors and American Honda officials have maintained that the company is the principal victim of the bribery scheme, testimony during the trial of Josleyn and Billmyer showed that top executives were told of the problem as early as 1983 but did nothing to stop it until 1992.

The company now faces millions of dollars in civil suits from dealers who say they suffered financially because they didn’t pay bribes and did not receive as many cars to sell as competitors who did.

One of those suits was filed in Orange County Superior Court earlier this year by former Honda dealer Roger Miller. He is seeking $17 million in damages, claiming that he paid a record $7-million price for his now-bankrupt Huntington Beach dealership in 1986. The price was based on sales figures that were inflated because the previous owners--now deceased--had paid bribes to get extra cars, his suit alleges.

Miller’s suit says that his sales revenue fell dramatically, forcing him into bankruptcy, because he didn’t participate in the bribe-paying and didn’t get as many cars as competing Honda dealers.