43
Man pleads in federal court to state sales tax irregularities
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A man who was charged in federal court with helping two local attorneys extort money from a store owner pleaded guilty to a bill of information Friday in U.S. Northern District Court in Cleveland.
Mohd Rawhneh, 54, of Boardman entered the plea before U.S. Judge Solomon Oliver to a charge of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. He admitted that between January 2009 and November 2012, he conspired with an unidentified person who worked for the Ohio Department of Taxation in Youngstown to file false sales-tax returns with the state.
The bill of information says that Rawhneh is affiliated with six stores in Ravenna, Kent, East Liverpool, Howland and Hannoverton as either an owner or agent.
Rawhneh was charged in February by a federal grand jury along with attorneys Neil Atway and Scott Cochran with violating the Hobbs Act, which is extortion by the wrongful use of actual or threatened force, violence or fear; conspiracy; and obstruction of justice.
Atway and Cochran also face separate counts of obstruction of justice for making false statements in November 2012 to FBI agents who investigated the case. Each also faces a single count of making a false statement to law enforcement for those statements.
In exchange for his plea to the bill of information, Rawhneh is expected to testify against Cochran and Atway, said Mike Tobin, a spokesman for U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio Steven M. Dettelbach.
The three had been charged with trying to extort money from Charles Muth, who was involved in a shooting in December 2011 at the Boardman home of Rawhneh’s ex-wife.
Muth was in a business dispute with Rawhneh at the time of the shooting, and after a search warrant was served at his home and marijuana was found, he also faced charges in federal court. He hired Atway to represent him in state and federal court. Atway and Cochran are partners in the same law firm.
The indictment alleges that Atway was telling Muth that Rawhneh would make things worse for him in both cases if he didn’t pay Rawhneh money and that Atway kept increasing the sum Muth was to pay Rawhneh. Cochran is accused of telling Rawhneh that he would assure Rawhneh got paid by Muth; Atway and Cochran are accused of lying to investigators in 2012 when they looked into the case.
Court records in the case show that trial dates for Atway and Cochran have been set for Nov. 5.