Last 30-Game Winner Receives Prison, Fine Former Detroit Star Sentenced For Stealing From Pension Plan

Denny McLain, the last pitcher to win 30 games in a season, was sentenced to eight years in prison and ordered to pay $2.5 million on Wednesday for stealing from the pension plan of a company that went bankrupt 18 months after he bought it.

The 53-year-old former Detroit Tigers star declined to make a statement during his sentencing hearing and showed no reaction when U.S. District Judge Patrick Duggan sentenced him.

McLain made no comment as he was led away by marshals, but will remain free until told in about a month to which prison he will report. He faced a maximum sentence of about nine years.

McLain’s lawyer, David DuMouchel, said he expected authorities to try to seize all McLain’s belongings except his house to pay off the debt.

“He’s had better days,” DuMouchel said. “He knew coming in here that he was going to get a severe sentence.”

McLain, who also has served time for racketeering and drug charges, and his business partner were convicted in December of five counts.

They were accused of stealing $3 million from the pension fund of Peet Packing Co., then using the money for company debts and personal investments.

McLain must pay the $2.5 million in restitution plus interest dating to Feb. 17, 1994, just after he bought the company.

McLain pitched for Detroit from 1963-70 and won the Cy Young Award in 1968 and 1969. He won 31 games with a 1.96 ERA in 1968 in leading the Tigers to a World Series title. His last season in the majors was 1972, when he was 28.

Duggan later sentenced McLain’s partner Roger Smigiel to seven years, one less than the maximum he faced.

“I never had any intentions of permanently stealing money from the Peet Packing Company pension fund,” Smigiel read from a statement, adding he was “truly sorry.”

Said Smigiel’s wife Jacqueline: “The last 2-1/2 years, it’s been a living nightmare.”

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Robinson had recommended harsh sentences for McLain and Smigiel, saying they ruined a 100-year-old company when they took it over. Robinson declined comment after Wednesday’s sentencing.

Peet Packing went bankrupt in June 1995, putting 200 employees out of work. McLain and Smigiel bought the Chesaning-based meatpacking company in January 1994 and soon thereafter discussed borrowing the union funds, according to trial testimony.

Another partner, Jeffrey Egan, has pleaded guilty to one count and testified against Smigiel and McLain in a deal with prosecutors. He will be sentenced Tuesday.

McLain of Brighton, Smigiel, 45, of Rochester Hills, and Egan, 36, of Bloomfield Hills, were indicted in May 1995 on charges of conspiracy and theft from a pension plan, money laundering and mail fraud.

Defense attorneys tried to portray Egan as the mastermind who got his partners to go along.

During the trial in December, union members and former employees testified that they were constantly rebuked when they questioned McLain or Smigiel about the assets in the fund.

McLain was found guilty in 1985 of racketeering, drug dealing and extortion. He served 29 months of a 23-year sentence before an appeals court overturned the conviction.

In 1988, McLain pleaded guilty to federal racketeering and drug charges in a plea agreement that avoided a retrial in U.S. District Court in Tampa, Fla. On Dec. 15, 1988, he was sentenced to time already served and five years of probation - a sentence he called an “early Christmas present.”