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Car dealer pleads guilty to 71 counts
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Prosecutors are recommending a 15-year prison sentence for a Canfield car dealer who entered guilty pleas Wednesday in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to a 71-count criminal indictment.
Joseph Reinthaler, 50, entered his pleas before Judge Maureen Sweeney to 69 felony counts of tampering with records, plus single felony counts of forgery and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
Sentencing will take place at a later date. Reinthaler remains free on bond until his sentencing. He was indicted in November by a grand jury for his actions between September 2012 and February 2015 at his car dealership in Canfield.
Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta said people who had cars they still owed money on would trade their cars in to Reinthaler, who would then promise to pay off the loan and make a document for them that he paid off their loan.
However, he would sell the car without paying off the loan, Brevetta said.
“It was like a giant Ponzi scheme, but instead of stocks, it was cars,” Brevetta said.
Brevetta said he is asking for such a long sentence because of the financial disruption it did to people’s lives. More than 60 people that prosecutors know of had their finances disrupted because of Reinthaler’s actions at a cost of $200,000 collectively, Brevetta said.