Koulianos sentenced on bribery charges

The sentence includes $400,000 restitution to ODOT.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Former bridge inspector Steven J. Koulianos of Boardman has been sentenced to three years' probation for accepting bribes from painting contractors.
Koulianos, 41, of Buchanan Drive, was sentenced Thursday afternoon in Cleveland federal court by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko. Koulianos pleaded guilty in mid-March.
The judge ordered Koulianos to spend the first six months of his sentence on electronically monitored house arrest. He must also make restitution of $400,000 to the Ohio Department of Transportation.
Koulianos had been a bridge inspector with KTA Tator, a private company hired by ODOT to inspect work performed by bridge painting contractors on federally funded projects in Ohio, the government said.
In early March, a one-count information was filed in Cleveland federal court that charged Koulianos with taking roughly $20,000 in cash from Argo Contracting and its representatives, who wanted to improperly influence him. The time frame is November 1999 through June 2000.
Another case
In January 2004, businessman George Ginnis of Campbell was sentenced to three years' probation for a bribery conspiracy that involved ODOT bridge inspectors.
At the time of Ginnis' indictment in August 2003, he and Larry Frangos of Lowellville were painting contractors, co-owners of Argo Contracting in Austintown, the government said. Frangos pleaded guilty in October 2003 to bribing an ODOT inspector and received one year's probation.
Koulianos' case was prosecuted by Richard H. Blake, an assistant U.S. attorney. It was investigated by the FBI and the U.S. Department of Transportation office of the inspector general.