Oglesby Construction owners sentenced to prison for fraud scheme

Apr. 7—A father and son are headed to prison for a fraud scheme, according to a news release.

Gerald E. Reichert, 65, and his son Adam M. Reichert, 36, owners of Oglesby Construction Inc. in Norwalk, were sentenced April 6 by U.S. District Judge Jack Zouhary of the Northern District of Ohio, Western Division in Toledo, following their guilty pleas to conspiracy to commit major fraud against the United States, highway project fraud and wire fraud, the release said.

Gerald Reichert was sentenced to 16 months in prison and ordered to pay a fine of $90,000, according to the release.

Adam Reichert was sentenced to serve eight months in prison and was ordered to pay a fine of $70,000, the release said.

Both men were ordered to pay total restitution of $579,014, according to the release.

The Reicherts operated Oglesby Construction, which is a pavement marking contractor located at 600 Toledo Road in Norwalk, that performed paint-striping services for the states of Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the release.

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 release said.

They misled the states by either manipulating daily Excel spreadsheet reports submitted to the states, or by attaching physical manipulation devices to application trucks including applicators and scales, according to the release.

The case was investigated by the United States Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the release said.