My friend that works at the federal courthouse told me to come look at something today.

Apparently Mr. Rimmasch and his company Wasatch Railroad Contractors were criminally indicted over that CNJ coach. I bought the indictment, which is attached. It was filed back on November 18, but unsealed just back on December 6.

I've attached the first part. I will attach the second part of the indictment in the following message.

here is part 2

Well then:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hC3uyQdQKM

Good point. The indictment indicates the feds are going to try to seize any personal assets of Wasatch and Rimmasch to cover the amounts he (allegedly) bilked Uncle Sam for.

Can somebody call Netflix? The guy is literally the "Tiger King" of the railroad world at this point.

As your moderator, I ask that we not revel or unnecessarily discuss someone's troubles... on the other hand the indictment is a public court document so can be posted here.

We should all note that this is not the first company involved in railroad preservation who have had issues with quality of the work performed, work not completed, or other issues related to selling railroad equipment. Both Benson Mt company and a passenger car broker in the St Louis area come to mind...

To the extent that we are sharing references or warnings about a vendor, this may be related to railroad preservation... When it devolves to name calling or celebrating someone's failures we need to stop.

Please be careful when continuing this discussion.

Thank You.

It's a sad day for railway preservation when one of our few contractors goes down in flames. There have been lots of negative comments on Wasatch over recent years and between the bankruptcy filing and now the Federal indictment there was obviously substance to the comments.

Not something to celebrate as we need more good contractors not less.

You gotta give John Rimmasch credit for being a heck of a good salesman.....$ 800,000
to rehab one CNJ coach !!!!!

And even at that outlandish price he couldn't deliver. Go figure ????

Ross Rowland

I'm not a lawyer, don't play one on TV or online, and don't have the proverbial "rooster in this fight."

What worries me, as far as the exact way the indictment reads, is that the prosecution claims Wasatch "knowingly" set out to devise a scheme to defraud the NPS/Feds. As in, it was his intent all along to "rip them off.".

This wording does NOT allow for any other contingencies--he fell behind, couldn't find an asbestos subcontractor, couldn't get material delivered, just got in way over his head, etc.

This is a pretty high bar, by my "Vulcan logic" way of thinking. It's not like he skipped town with the car and fled to a Mexican "chop shop" or to the dock and loaded it in a container with other stolen cars.

Yes, it's breach of contract. Yes, he has payback and explanations to do. There might even be jail time in the future, who knows?

But does anyone really think that someone in this puddle of a small pond really set out in a grandiose, conniving scheme to rip off the Federal government???

This could end up like a variety of notable high-profile criminal trials of late, which fell victim to prosecutors "over-charging" defendants, and thus the defendants walking off acquitted in the eyes of the law, but terminally tainted by the public (and falsely based) crucifixion by the news media and social media..................

I’m occasionally a lawyer. My read of the documents is that he allegedly billed the NPS for work he didn’t do, or do properly (billed for using a subcontractor and did it himself), like he affirmed that he did.

When you bill for work you don’t do, that’s fraud. All the other excuses about falling behind, etc don’t count.

Of course, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that an indictment is not proof of guilt. Mr. Rimmasch and his company still have the presumption of innocence.

What we need is more good contractors, and less bad ones. We are (in my and many others opinions who have dealt with WRC as customers) losing a bad on here. I dont think celebrate is the word I would use, but I do mark the "downfall" of any bad actor in the industry, notorious or otherwise, as a good thing. One fraudelent or substandard contractor being outed for what they are is potentially one less out there to defraud others and continue to produce substandard work that we have all agreed is dangerous and detrimental to this industry.

Calling out these kind of people is the only way to stop criminals and hold them accountable- thats what this indictment is. Or, at the very least, protect others others falling for the same trap. That being said, due process is the right of any defendant, and that includes presumption of innocence, even here with the track record of Rimmasch and the pretty damming evidence at hand. I think we all know which way this will swing.

-Sam

Sam says it about as well as it could be said.

IMHO-Ross Rowland

Three comments:

(1) The indictment mentions a NPS "contracting officer." That is important because "contracting officers" are the only federal employees who have the authority to enter into contracts on behalf of the government. Wikipedia has a short summary: Contracting Officer

There are several other federal job titles with contracting in their names (Contracting Specialist, Contracting Officer's Representative, Contracting Officer's Technical Representative, etc) but "contracting officers" are the only ones actually able to enter into contracts on behalf of the government.

(2) The NPS and its contracting officer had to convince the US Attorney that the case was worth prosecuting.

(3) Other defendants have been incarcerated and/or placed on probation for less than what is alleged in this indictment. (A former cubicle neighbor of mine went to jail after being convicted on a single theft by taking charge involving about $15,000 in federal program funds.)

I’d be interested in seeing the original bid specs any any addenda out of curiosity. After being immersed in construction contracts for twenty years involving public money at all levels, I can say it’s usually not very easy to get away with any shenanigans. You’d eventually get caught.

All of this happened years ago. Does anybody know the status of this car today? Was the project finished and the car returned to Scranton?

Supe raises an interesting issue. From usually very reliable sources the CNJ coach involved sits on shop trucks outside the now closed Wasatch shop building in Wyoming.

It will be interesting to know how much of the $ 800k the NPS paid out to Wasatch over time and what plans they have now to get the car back to Scranton. Hopefully the bankruptcy trustee knows it doesn't belong to Wasatch??

As is always the case, in due course all the facts will surface.

Ross Rowland