Norwalk business owners sentenced to prison for fraud scheme

Gerald E. Reichert, 65, and Adam M. Reichert, 36, were sentenced by Judge Jack Zouhary of the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division, recently following their guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit major fraud against the United States, highway project fraud and wire fraud.

Gerald E. Reichert was sentenced to serve 16 months in prison and to pay a fine of $90,000. Adam M. Reichert was sentenced to serve eight months in prison and to pay a fine of $70,000. Both men were ordered to pay total restitution of $579,014.

Gerald (father) and Adam (son) were owners and operators of Oglesby Construction, Inc., a pavement marking contractor based in Norwalk, Ohio, that performed paint-striping services for the States of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.

The men participated in a scheme to defraud state and federal governments by contracting with state authorities to perform paint-striping of roads using a certain amount of paint and glass beads, but then under-applying those materials and falsely informing states that they had complied with contractual requirements.

The scheme participants misled the states by either manipulating daily spreadsheet reports submitted to the states or by attaching physical manipulation devices to application trucks including applicators and scales.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. The case was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Robert N. Melching, Jody L. King, Suzana K. Koch and Gene Crawford.