Canfield car dealer gets 13 years for defrauding customers

YOUNGSTOWN

Joseph Reinthaler did not say what the event was five years ago that led him to plead guilty to charges that he bilked more than two dozen people at his Canfield car dealership.

But he did say just before he was sentenced Thursday by Judge Maureen Sweeney in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court to 13 years in prison that he was sorry and he only did it to keep his business running.

“I don’t have an explanation,” Reinthaler told the judge.

Reinthaler pleaded guilty in August to a 70-count indictment, including a single charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, forgery, tampering with evidence and 67 counts of tampering with records.

Assistant Prosecutor Nicholas Brevetta said Reinthaler would buy cars off people at his car lot and, instead of paying off what was owed on that car, he would sell the car.

That, in turn, created a nightmare for people who could not get a title for cars purchased from Reinthaler, Brevetta said.

Read more about the case in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.