ODOT caught in stripper scandal

By Marc Kovac

An anonymous complaint in April 2007 prompted the investigation.

COLUMBUS — Sex in a minivan parked in a state-owned garage.

Payments to strippers for sexual favors and at least one attempted breast augmentation.

Gifts and gratuities, even “wads of cash,” for steering public contracts to specified vendors.

Those were among the findings of what the inspector general’s office called at least a decade of “ethical failures, improper relationships, debauchery and raw criminality” involving employees at a Ohio Department of Transportation district office covering the Cleveland area.

“The kind of conduct that we’re talking about is nefarious,” Jim Canepa, deputy inspector general, said during a press conference Thursday near the Statehouse. “It’s conduct that is created and intended to deceive people who are looking, and they were very good at it for a very long time.”

The inspector general’s office, which investigates allegations of wrongdoing among state agencies, released its report capping months of fact-finding, 130 subpoenas, interviews of 100-plus people, and search warrants on homes and businesses.

An anonymous complaint in April 2007 prompted the investigation, initially focusing on two District 12 employees — facilities manager Dennis Kratochvil and equipment superintendent Terrence M. Kosmata — two ODOT vendors and two strippers.

What the inspector general uncovered, according to the report, was “a massive, interlocking web of schemes in which Kratochvil and Kosmata — both of whom worked for ODOT for more than 25 years — had criminalized the entire purchasing and procurement apparatus in District 12’s facilities and equipment divisions. We found the two departments to be so riddled with fraud, corruption and depravity that few of the contract relationships the two men maintained with the dozens of vendors with whom they did business were arm’s-length or untainted by personal greed,” the inspector general concluded.

According to the investigation, ODOT Director James Beasley already has fired or accepted the resignations of a number of the employees who are involved. Copies of the investigation also have been forwarded to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office and the Ohio Ethics Commission, and Inspector General Tom Charles said it’s likely that additional public officials will be identified.

Among the specific findings:

UThe “investigation confirmed that Kratochvil, Kosmata and Kosmata’s senior purchasing officer, Kevin M. Horrigan, had accepted a wide range of gifts and gratuities in exchange for steering contracts to preferred vendors. The gratuities included fishing and hunting trips in Ohio, Texas and Alaska; hotel accommodations and meals in Las Vegas and Cleveland; meals, drinks and lap dances at strip clubs; a membership at a private golf club; free or discounted garage door installations, electrical work, plumbing and other services; and cash. In the latter case, we learned that Kratochvil had accepted more than $34,000 in ‘commissions’ from an ODOT vendor in North Royalton between 2000 and 2007, accepting wads of cash from the vendor until just a few days before Kratochvil was escorted from his office.”

U“Kratochvil’s greed was fueled by his infatuation with strippers, on whom he bestowed lavish gifts of jewelry, furniture, appliances and cash. He gave one stripper $4,000 for a breast augmentation; when she balked at going through with the surgery, he allowed her to keep $1,000 of the money as a birthday present. He also paid strippers for sexual liaisons, which took place during working hours at an Independence motel and in the back of his minivan inside the ODOT garage.”

mkovac@dixcom.com