Ex-Pilot Flying J president can open Christmas presents in prison, prosecutors say

If Mark Hazelwood wants to celebrate Christmas, he can do it from a prison cell, federal prosecutors say.

Hazelwood, the former president of Pilot Flying J, wants to wait until after the holidays to begin serving a 12-and-a-half year sentence for cheating trucking customers out of millions of dollars at the diesel pump. A federal jury convicted him in February of wire fraud, witness tampering and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.

Hazelwood's lawyers, Bradley Henry and Jim Walden, cite his "devout" Christian faith and sense of "family values" as grounds for letting Hazelwood, 59, open presents at home with his family. Prosecutors say that's why prisons have chaplains.

"The federal Bureau of Prisons has policies to 'provide inmates of all faith groups with reasonable and equitable opportunities to pursue religious beliefs,'" Assistant U.S. Attorney Trey Hamilton wrote in a response to the defense motion. "Hazelwood's asserted religious beliefs are therefore not a basis to delay."

Read more: https://www.knoxnews.com/story/news/crime/2018/10/26/prosecutors-want-christmas-prison-hazelwood-ex-pilot-president/1763639002/