A former chemist who helped a Pine businessman run a rare-chemical company was sentenced to 44 months in prison last week in Wisconsin.

Robert Wandler, of Waukesha, Wis., pleaded guilty in December to several counts, including fraud and conspiracy to defraud the United States. He previously pleaded guilty to tax evasion, as well.

In addition to the prison term which covers all the counts, he was also ordered to pay just over $5 million in restitution.

According to the government, Mr. Wandler helped Timothy A. Heffner, of Pine, overbill his company, Sigma-Aldrich Chemical Corp., where Mr. Wandler oversaw the buying and selling of chemical compounds from the Rare Chemical Library there.

Mr. Heffner ran BioTechnology Corp. of America out of his home.

As part of the scheme, Mr. Wandler sold rare chemicals to BioTechnology Corp. at reduced rates, sometimes even for free. Mr. Heffner then turned around and resold the chemicals back to Sigma-Aldrich at inflated prices.

In return, Mr. Heffner paid Mr. Wandler more than $600,000.

According to court papers filed in the case, Sigma-Aldrich paid Mr. Heffner's company $5.7 million between May 1997 and May 2004.

The government alleged that Mr. Heffner's actions cost taxpayers $1.2 million and Sigma-Aldrich $2.1 million.

Mr. Heffner was sentenced in March in Pittsburgh to 18 months in prison. He also was ordered to pay a $7,500 fine, repay the Internal Revenue Service and complete restitution to Sigma-Aldrich in the amount of $139,000.

First Published: August 6, 2008, 4:00 a.m.