43
Canfield businessman gets 13 years for auto fraud
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
Joseph Rein-thaler 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.
Brevetta said more than two dozen people did business with Reinthaler that police and members of the Ohio State Highway Patrol and attorney general’s office, who helped prosecute the case, knew about.
The activity took place between September 2012 and September 2015.
Despite all the work done by the state helping the victims, which included paying out more than $100,000, some people may never be able to clear up the status of their car or get rid of it, Brevetta said.
“Some people are going to be stuck with a car they can’t get a title for or a license plate, too,” Brevetta said.
He asked for a 15-year sentence, saying the economic impact of Reinthaler’s crimes is akin to a homicide.
Reinthaler’s lawyer, Doug Taylor, asked for a shorter sentence, perhaps probation.
He said his client has no criminal record, cooperated with police when confronted with evidence of wrongdoing, and he is able to work, which would help if he was ordered to pay restitution.
Taylor said all was fine until five years ago when an event Taylor did not identify started his client on his course of criminal conduct.
Reinthaler said he was only trying to keep his business afloat and was expecting profits to perk up, which would enable him to make good on the payments of the cars he took in so titles could be issued. But he said those profits never happened.