Big Rigs, Posh Digs, Fast Cars, Dark Bars! The Greed-Driven, Sex-Enhanced Ride That Cost Arrow Trucking Company $90 Million and Its Life!

This is the true story of crime and "road rage" in the executive suite of one of America's leading trucking companies. The story begins when the highly regarded founder and owner of the Arrow Trucking Company is killed in a hunting accident. His widow then appoints their only son, Douglas, to be the new CEO. His only qualification is that he is known to be "the apple of his mother's eye". He had no experience in anything. He had only a high school education and had never worked a day in his life. He was best known as a young, wealthy, and very arrogant party boy. He was further described as being an "egotistical jerk". Accordingly, the end of the story is predictable. But, one could not have predicted the shocking events that played out along the way.

At the time of his father's death, the company owned over 1,200 tractors and 1,400 flatbeds, and had negligible debt. The company had more than 1,400 employees. Revenues exceeded $250 million annually, and the company was recognized as a leader in the trucking industry. Eight years later audits showed $8.55 million in assets and $99.97 million in liabilities. It proved to be one hell of a ride.

It didn't take long for "Dougie" to live up to his reputation. His employees soon referred to Doug Pielsticker as "Smug Pigstinker". Respect for this new leader was as impossible to find, as was the leader himself. On his first day on the job he arrived in his chauffeur-driven limousine promptly at 10:45 a.m. It was to become his nearly-everyday starting time. His first task was to clean out his father's office. And, clean-out he did, tossing everything but the furniture, inclusive of all of the family pictures. He was far more interested in his inheritance than his heritage. He was also much more interested in furthering his personal lifestyle. And, he was in the right place. Later audits indicated he trucked out nearly $40 million to his personal accounts in support of his lifestyle.

He then fired nearly all of his dad's management team and replaced them with his own drinking, partying pals. Immediately the downhill ride commenced. With Doug behind the wheel and his pals on board, corporate assets began to disappear. Audits later discovered they had been hauled to the personal accounts of this new CEO and his new-found "partners in crime".

Some of the more entertaining stories within this story include: the gift of a new Porsche to a stripper he just saw perform in a bar; his ensuing marriage to the stripper who leaves him for a television news anchor who was the wife of a prominent Tulsa businessman; his need for in-home help to maintain his closet and change light bulbs; the content of his frequent $80,000 monthly charges to his company issued American Express card; and much, much more.

This is the story behind the news reports that focused on the multiple fraud and RICO filings against the inept management of Arrow Trucking. This is the inside story as it was related to the author by representatives of the more than 1,400 former employees of Arrow Trucking Company. The storytellers are the same people who abruptly lost their jobs, their payroll, and expense checks, and were further left stranded on the highways of North America with fuel credit cards that were no longer any good. The only thing they were told - by in-cab message - was to "leave your trucks where they are and find your way home. Arrow Trucking is no longer in business." As these former employees will tell you, this book recounts what was for them, "one hell of a ride."

©2012 Charles H. Hood (P)2012 Charles H. Hood