PORTLAND (AP) – Two former executives of a Winslow biological laboratory pleaded guilty Thursday to their role in a scheme to smuggle a chicken virus into the country from Saudi Arabia in order to produce a vaccine.

John Donahoe, 59, of Flowery Branch, Ga., and Dennis Guerrette, 40, of Brunswick, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Bangor.

Donahoe was the president of Maine Biological Laboratories before he resigned in the spring of 2001. Guerrette was the company’s vice president and chief financial officer and left in Sept. 2002.

Donahoe and Guerrette pleaded guilty to counts including conspiracy, mail fraud and other federal charges, all in connection with the scheme.

Thomas Swieczkowski, the company’s former vice president of production, and Marjorie Evans, former vice president of quality assurance and regulatory affairs, pleaded guilty to the same charges in April. A sentencing hearing will be held later this year. Donahoe faces more than seven years in prison and over $375,000 in fines. Guerrette faces up to 10 years in prison and over $500,000 in fines.

The case dates to 1998, when a customer in Saudi Arabia discovered one of its chicken flocks had avian influenza. Officials at Maine Biological Labs smuggled a virus sample into the United States to produce a vaccine, according to court records.

Prosecutors said company officials, who were accused of falsifying production records and shipping documents, broke the law to increase sales and in doing so put domestic chicken flocks at risk.

The eight-count indictment, filed in U.S. District Court in Bangor, said Maine Biological Laboratories was paid $895,000 for 8,000 bottles of the vaccine.

Lab technicians produced another batch, but it was destroyed after officials learned somebody had tipped off the government before it could be shipped. The employees allegedly disposed of it before Department of Agriculture officials could inspect the laboratory.

According to court records, Maine Biological’s officers also agreed to affix labels that falsely stated the contents of vaccines for some overseas customers because the licenses for that vaccine hadn’t been issued by the importing country, the indictment said.

Lohman Animal Health International, a New Jersey company that owns Maine Biological Labs, released a statement last year saying none of the employees involved continued to work for the lab in Maine.

AP-ES-06-10-04 1522EDT