Dispatch: Charges ahead for 22 more in ODOT scandal

The Columbus Dispatch reports:

A year after investigators revealed that state transportation officials traded millions of dollars worth of contracts for gifts, fishing trips and sex with strippers, the scandal shows no sign of abating.

At least 22 vendors and former Ohio Department of Transportation officials remain to be charged. The Ohio inspector general's office, which launched its investigation nearly three years ago, remains on the case. Even the U.S. Department of Justice appears to be involved.

The scandal broke open last October when Inspector General Thomas P. Charles revealed that purchasing managers at the state transportation office in Garfield Heights, near Cleveland, had awarded $11 million in contracts to vendors who repaid them with perks and sexual liaisons.

Since then, three state employees and six vendors have been charged with bribery, theft and other crimes. Two state employees and four vendors have been sentenced to six-month jail terms. Two state officials and a vendor were sentenced yesterday.

(Source: The Columbus Dispatch, 10/07/09)