A Cuyahoga County Grand Jury has charged the R.J. Martin Electrical Contracting firm with crimes that include theft, tampering with records, and money laundering.
Law enforcement officials say the company double-billed and over-billed at least seven school systems in six Northeast Ohio counties, for electrical work done over a five year period.
The criminal charges stem from their work at just two districts: Cleveland, and Lakewood, while work in other districts is still being investigated.
The Plain Dealer quotes a Vice President at the firm as saying it did nothing wrong, but Assistant Prosecutor Dan Kasaris says what his office uncovered while searching confiscated materials, could not have been accidental.
Kasaris: "This was something that's planned out - the way the labor rate was charged was planned, it was not the rate they were supposed to have been charging. The reimbursements they received was also planned, and I mean it's something that the grand jury found again, there was probable cause that this was something that was purposeful or intentionally done."
R.J. Martin has repaid the Cleveland Schools $150 thousand toward the alleged overbilling. No other system has received any money back.
If convicted, company President Paul Cunningham could face more than 200 years in prison and as much as a half a million dollars in fines.
Rick Jackson, 90.3.