Painting contractor enters guilty plea

The contractor will be sentenced in October.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Painting contractor Anthony Katsourakis of Campbell pleaded guilty Friday in federal court to bribing an Ohio Department of Transportation bridge inspector with cash and a condo.
Katsourakis, 61, of Robinson Road, had been scheduled for trial on Monday in Cleveland federal court.
U.S. District Judge Dan Aaron Polster accepted Katsourakis' plea and set sentencing for Oct. 16. The maximum penalty is 10 years in prison. Under federal sentencing guidelines, Katsourakis faces 63 to 78 months in prison.
Indictment
In late August 2005, a federal grand jury in Cleveland indicted Katsourakis on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, filing fraudulent inspection reports with the Ohio Department of Transportation and bribery. His company, American Painting, was charged with conspiracy.
Katsourakis was accused of giving an on-site ODOT bridge inspector a total of $24,000 in cash payments to permit shoddy work. The painting contractor's condominium in Clearwater, Fla., was used by the inspector as another form of bribery, the government said.
The federally funded bridge projects were on Interstate 90 on the west side of Cleveland. The time frame in the indictment is May through late 2001.
Richard H. Blake, an assistant U.S. attorney, said Friday that the investigation continues. He had no comment when asked if Katsourakis would cooperate with the ongoing investigation.
Blake has said it will cost nearly three times the original amount of the contract to redo the bridge work. The original ODOT contract was roughly $2.5 million.
Unacceptable
In return for the bribes, the ODOT inspector allowed American Painting workers to paint in inclement and unacceptable weather conditions, the government said. The painting company was also allowed to omit, ignore and fail to perform certain necessary and contractually specified functions such as scraping, sanding, blasting and priming the bridge surfaces, the indictment states.
The ODOT inspector routinely falsified reports as to the quantity and quality of the work performed by American Painting so as to conceal the inferior services provided, the government said.
At a pretrial detention hearing last August, the government's attempt to show that Katsourakis would flee to his native Greece failed. Instead, Judge Polster set a $1 million bond.
Katsourakis remains free on bond pending sentencing.
meade@vindy.com