Brunswick Couple Allegedly Perpetrate $148,000 Fraud

BRUNSWICK, OH - Police and state prosecutors have filed charges against a Brunswick couple for failing to make payments to support a pension and benefits fund for employees and then obstructing an investigation into the matter, police say.

Two 39-year-olds, Eric Dentz and Rebecca Dentz, have been charged with with conspiracy to obstruct justice, tampering with evidence, making false statements to federal agents, and failure to file taxes. The couple are the former owners of Dentz Painting Incorporated (DPI), a company taking part in a collective bargaining agreement with the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades.

DPI was, through that agreement, obligated to hire union workers and pay contributions to the union pension and benefits. DPI did not do that, the indictment says.

The union conducted investigations into the Dentz's business and found that the company had failed to pay $148,000 in union contributions. In 2010, the company agreed to make delinquent contributions to the union funds. However, the Dentz' allegedly started a second company, Global Contracting Service (GCS), and continued to not make payments to the union.

“These defendants tried time and again to dodge their obligations to their employees,” Carole Rendon, US Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, said in a statement. “When confronted with this, they didn’t own up to their failures, but instead tried to obstruct the investigation.

Even though they launched a new company, the Dentz were still obligated to the unions. The Department of Labor, the Office of Inspector General, and the Employee Benefits Security Administration began investigating the Dentz. The IRS and the Criminal Investigation Division then joined the investigation.

Once the investigation started, the couple tried to block the investigation. Eric Dentz also threatened investigators with violence after the obtained a subpoena to search his property. Rebecca Dentz then repeatedly lied about her and Eric's involvement with GSC and the location of records that investigators were searching for.

Then, during proceedings in US District Chief Judge Solomon Oliver Jr.'s court, the Dentz lied about the status and condition of records investigators were searching for, police say. The couple told a grand jury that the records being sought were destroyed in a flood. They then produced the "destroyed" records later and provided the court with a fake cleaning invoice.

Finally, the couple allegedly failed to file income tax returns for several years.

“As tax filing season is upon us, those Americans who file accurate, honest and timely returns can be assured that the government will hold accountable those who don't," said Troy Stemen, Acting Special Agent in Charge IRS-Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office, in a statement.

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