Trial delayed in poultry exporting fraud case

GULFPORT — Trial has been delayed for three men accused of falsifying temperatures of poultry exported to Russia from Pascagoula.

The Sun Herald reports 38-year-old Terry White, of Ocean Springs, 39-year-old Gerald Miller, of Gautier, and 55-year-old Patrick McClain, of Pascagoula, were set for trial this week in U.S. District Court in Gulfport. They are accused of authorizing the release of poultry products in 2009 by circumventing a trade agreement while working for Gulf Coast Cold Storage at the Port of Pascagoula.

They face trial on a five-count indictment alleging they conspired to increase productivity in ways that included instructing workers to remove poultry from blast freezers before the poultry reached the required temperature.

The delay was approved because a prosecuting attorney had two different trials scheduled elsewhere.