Posted at: 09/12/2012 10:40 AM

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Iowa Egg Farm Manager to Plead Guilty to Bribery

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - A manager at the Iowa egg farms linked to the nationwide salmonella outbreak in 2010 will plead guilty to trying to bribe a federal inspector to allow the sale of unsafe eggs.

Tony Wasmund's charged with one count of conspiring to bribe a public official. He's expected to plead guilty Wednesday during an appearance in federal court in Cedar Rapids.

A charging document says that months before the outbreak, in April 2010, Wasmund authorized giving $300 to be used by another employee to bribe a U.S. Department of Agriculture inspector.

The goal was to influence the inspector to approve sales of eggs that had been withheld for failing to meet federal standards.

Wasmund is a former manager under Jack DeCoster, whose farms in Wright County were blamed for the outbreak.

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