Recap of Ohio corruption

Why is it corruption always seem to include trips to Las Vegas and strippers? WKYC offers a brief recap of the arrogance of corruption in Ohio:

Historic ODOT District 12 corruption case now over
Kim Wendel
CLEVELAND -- The Ohio Department of Transportation District 12 corruption case prosecution is now over. It was the largest ODOT corruption case in Ohio's history, according to the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's office.


Prosecutor's spokesman Ryan Miday says the case has concluded with the exception of a review of the conduct of a business involving ODOT contracts. That review is pending.

Here is how it all started and who was involved.

The Ohio Inspector General's Office and the Ohio State Highway Patrol conducted the investigation.

In April 2007, an allegation was made that then-ODOT District 12 facilities manager Dennis L. Kratochvil had committed ethics violations by fishing with vendors over whom he had contract authority.

The investigation revealed Kratochvil was at the center of a massive interlocking web of schemes involving Ohio Department of Transportation contracts.

For over a decade, he, former District 12 Equipment Supervisor Terry Kosmata and ODOT storekeeper Kevin Horrigan rigged and steered hundreds of competitively bid contracts to favored vendors in exchange for gratuities, according to the prosecutor's office.

These gratuities included hunting and fishing trips to Texas and Alaska, gambling junkets to Las Vegas, expensive meals and bar tabs, boating trips and hot tub parties with strippers, and cash bribes delivered to Kratochvil at ODOT District Headquarters in Garfield Heights.

While under indictment, Kratochvil threatened another co-defendant who was also a state's witness against him. On the day this co-defendant was waiting on the judge outside the courtroom to enter a plea of guilty, Kratochvil called him on his cell phone and threatened his life.

The 17 defendants in this ODOT case have pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges and have paid a total of $611,840 in restitution for using a wide-variety of scams to illegally steer ODOT contracts and business to friends and associates from 1998 to 2007.

The center of this criminal activity was ODOT's District 12 headquarters located in Garfield Heights.

The second wave of charges that included the main target, Dennis L. Kratochvil, involved three ODOT officials and five ODOT vendors who were indicted on corruption charges in November, 2009.

In January 2011, Dennis L. Kratochvil was sentenced to seven years in prison. Kratochvil paid $110,000 in restitution to the Ohio Department of Transportation and was ordered today (Feb. 11) to pay $11,000 in fines.

On Oct. 18, 2010, he pleaded guilty to 14 felony counts: 1 count of attempted engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; 12 counts of tampering with records; and 1 count of intimidation of a crime victim or witness.

On Jan. 19, 2011, Kratochvil entered the Lorain Correctional Institution to begin his sentence.

On Dec. 15, 2009, former District 12 Storekeeper Kevin M. Horrigan pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, theft in office, attempted tampering with records, and having an unlawful interest in a public contract.

On Sept. 16, 2010, Horrigan was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

On Jan. 12, 2010, former District 12 Equipment Superintendent Terrence M. Kosmata pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, attempted bribery, and theft in office.

On Sept. 16, 2010, Kosmata was sentenced to 2 and a half years in prison.

On March 9, 2010, ODOT vendor Philip C. Marek pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and attempted tampering with records. On Sept. 16, 2010, Marek was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

On May 17, 2010, ODOT vendor James Patrick Hartory, II pleaded guilty to charges of bribery, attempted bribery, and attempted tampering with records. On May 17, 2010, Hartory was sentenced to 5 years community control, with three of the five years are to be served on house arrest.

On June 18, 2010, ODOT vendor Kent L. Winter pleaded guilty to charges of providing improper compensation to public employees and tampering with records.

On Sept. 23, 2010, Winter was sentenced to 1 year in prison and paid $185,000 in restitution to ODOT.

On June 18, 2010, Winter pleaded guilty to one count of restrictions on present or former public officials or employees, four counts of tampering with records, and one count of attempted tampering with records, and faced 22 years in prison.

Winter was the owner of Winter Equipment, Co. located in Willoughby. He conspired with ODOT officials to rig competitive quotes by setting up straw companies to submit bids and inflated bogus bids from other companies in order to steer a total 8 purchases of snow plow blades and other items totaling $170,000, of which he made $44,887 in profit.

With contracts in place, he paid approximately $2,000 to entertain two ODOT officials on two trips to Las Vegas. Winter compensated ODOT officials for ODOT contracts by hosting hot tub parties at his residence with ODOT officials and strippers.

The strippers were hired by Dennis L. Kratochvil.

On Aug. 6, 2010, ODOT vendor Robert E. Jones, Jr. pleaded guilty to charges of bribery and attempted tampering with records. On Sept. 23, 2010, Jones was sentenced to 2 years in prison.

Jones paid $64,000 in restitution to Ohio Department of Transportation when he entered his plea on Aug. 6, 2010, and faced a maximum sentence of 9 and a half years in prison.

Jones was employed by Lake Truck Sales & Service Inc. and Jones Equipment Co., and was a principal of JEL Idealease. Jones bribed Horrigan to obtain ODOT contracts, prosecutors said.

Jones gave Horrigan a total of $25,000 for personal expenses, including the cost of Horrigan's country club membership. Horrigan, aided by Kosmata, processed phony bids submitted by Jones on twenty occasions.

The bids or competitive quotes were forged and submitted on behalf of two other companies for the purpose of steering the contracts to Jones's companies. Jones' three companies were fraudulently awarded $200,000 worth of contracts.

Jones also admitted to providing Kosmata a variety of gratuities, including free winter boat storage and boat repairs for Kosmata's participation in the corruption.

On Jan. 27, 2011, ODOT vendor Dennis B. Kratochvil -- Dennis L. Kratochvil's son -- pleaded guilty to attempted tampering with records and received a suspended six-month jail sentence.

He was ordered to pay $4,697 to ODOT.

The first set of charges filed against three ODOT officials and six ODOT venders concluded in November, 2009. Each of the defendants pleaded guilty to corruption-related charges.

The nine men were ODOT Purchasing Coordinator Thomas Short, Jr., of Lancaster; ODOT Storekeeper Joseph Jedrzejek, of Garfield Heights; ODOT Auto Mechanic William Werman, of Garfield Heights; Christian Hilty, of Hiram; Jeffrey Bauer, of Willoughby Hills; Mark O'Donnell, of Elyria; Richard Goldizen, Jr., of Perry; Craig Gorsuch, of Wellington; and James Bright, of North Royalton.


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