Jimmy Haslam press conference, April 19, 2013

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(Gallery by Plain Dealer wire services)

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- Pilot Flying J, embroiled in claims that its sales workers defrauded trucking companies of fuel rebates, has agreed to step down as the main sponsor of a truck drivers' convention in October.

Organizers of the Truck Driver Social Media Convention, a three-day event at Harrah's Resort & Convention Center in Kansas City, Mo., said today that Pilot Flying J agreed with them it should bow out.

"I'm heartbroken," said Donna Smith, whose husband, Allen, is a 36-year veteran of long-distance trucking. The couple launched the social media conference for truckers three years ago, with Pilot Flying J as its first and strongest supporter, she said.

The Knoxville, Tenn.-based truck stop chain called the Smiths in February to volunteer as the primary sponsor of this year's event, which is expected to draw about 500 truckers and various industry sponsors.

Pilot Flying J CEO Jimmy Haslam, whom Smith met for the first time at the Mid-America Truck Show in Louisville, Ky., last month, was supposed to make an appearance.

Smith said it was wrenching to conclude that Pilot Flying J should not headline the conference -- a decision she said she reached in concert with Lynsay Russell, social media marketing manager for the truck stop chain's parent company, Pilot Travel Centers.

"We spoke to them a long time," Smith said by telephone from her home north of Tampa Bay, Fla. "They told us, 'We believe so much in your convention and what you're trying to do, that we don't want to hurt your effort.'"

Russell said “We regret we will not be able to participate this year and look forward to next year’s convention.”

Dozens of FBI and IRS agents raided Pilot Flying J's headquarters and the homes of three sales managers April 15, armed with a search warrant that claimed sales staff at the nation's largest travel center network had been engaged in a rebate scheme.

(See documents related to the Pilot Flying J case in the viewer below.)

Haslam, majority owner of the Cleveland Browns, said April 18 he put several members of Pilot's sales team on administrative leave and planned to hire an outside investigator with a U.S. Justice Department background to conduct an independent review of the situation. An announcement on who that will be is expected within days.

Smith declined to say how much money Pilot Flying J had put up to help sponsor the social media convention. Other sponsors include Navistar Inc. International Trucks; Dynasys, a Texas company that makes auxiliary power units for trucks; and Cobra, a company that makes navigation systems for professional drivers. The conference theme is "Positive People Generate Positive Actions."

At last year's conference, Pilot Flying J had a large display and was one of the top donors. A Pilot Flying J presentation stressed "making life better for America's drivers."

Since its first gathering in 2011, at the Gold Strike Casino in Tunica, Miss., the organization has focused on not only networking but also causes such as securing more safe parking areas for long-haul drivers and eliminating human trafficking.

Smith said she is certain that any fraudulent activities at Pilot Flying J would be concentrated among a small circle of sales employees, and that "99.9 percent of the people at Pilot Flying J are of the highest moral integrity."

A post that went up Thursday on Allen Smith's Facebook site said "The decision by the [convention] was not based on an assumption of guilt regarding the Pilot Flying J charges, but rather an agreement between Pilot Flying J and the [convention] to remove the possibility of any negative association or stigma on the event."

It goes on to say that the convention believes that the investigation of Pilot Flying J by the FBI and "Pilot Flying J's own personal aggressive investigation" will resolve many unanswered questions.

With John Caniglia