EX-CEO OF SLOAN'S BEGINS PRISON SENTENCE

CHAPIN CLARK

NEW YORK -- Jules Rose, a former chairman and chief executive officer of Sloan's Supermarkets here, has begun serving a year-and-a-day sentence for his role in a fraudulent coupon-remittance scheme and for an unrelated tax-evasion charge. Rose has also agreed to pay a fine of $100,000, according to Marvin Smilon, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, and court records.

Charges filed in March 1993 accused Rose and two other former Sloan's executives -- Gary Meyer, secretary-treasurer, and Stephen E. Karsch, vice president of administration, real estate and store planning -- of bilking manufacturers out of close to $3.5 million by buying manufacturer coupons in bulk and submitting them to clearinghouses or to the manufacturers themselves for face-value redemption.

Rose initially pleaded innocent to charges of racketeering, money laundering and mail fraud before pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy in October 1993 and one count of tax evasion in October of last year, according to Smilon.

Meyer and Karsch each pleaded guilty to a single count of conspiracy in the fall of 1993. Each received a 27-month jail sentence and paid a $40,000 fine.

The spokesman would not confirm a deal between Rose and the U.S. Attorney's Office in which Rose would get a reduced sentence in return for aiding in the prosecution of Meyer and Karsch, but he noted that for Rose's charges "the statutory penalties are much higher [than what he is actually serving]. He obviously got credit for cooperating."

The charge of tax-evasion, Smilon said, was for more than $99,000 in 1989 unreported income.

On Dec. 18 of last year Rose was sentenced before U.S. District Judge John S. Martin of Manhattan Federal Court. He began serving his sentence late last month at a federal prison in Fort Dix, N.J., Smilon said.

Rose's attorney was unavailable for comment.

Red Apple Cos. here, which bought Sloan's in 1991, was not affected by any of the judgments.