JOHN RIMMASCH AND WRRC GUILTY ON ALL COUNTS

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3011

Kelly Anderson wrote:

Howard P. wrote:

Attachment:

JER LLC.jpg

The kid is resilient, isn't he?

It is interesting that the company that hired John has the same initials that he does...

Nobody hired him, he created that LLC.

https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_ky/0710256

Bobharbison · **Joined:** Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:42 pm **Posts:** 3011

Randy Gustafson wrote:

But in fairness, it's the split between knowledge and business. What I saw consistently was a tendency to get a job by underbidding and underestimating on fixed-price jobs, and work it all out later. You end up leveraging the last job by getting the next one, it's essentially an unintended pyramid scheme that means you have to cut costs where you know you shouldn't just to survive rather than setting up offshore banking accounts. Mix that with good communication and PR skills - which he has - and that can set up a pattern. Don't confuse that with the genuine enthusiasm for a trade, or even legitimate skills, and it doesn't make you evil by intent, either. Not fair.

Yes, this happens all the time with consultants and contractors. And, as Randy said, most don't intend to rip people off, they're just trying to get by until they can find a job that makes money rather than loses it.

There's also a lot of room for interpretation when asking for progress payments. I routinely bill jobs for 75% complete when I haven't done any actual work on the project. Scam? No, not when the materials are on hand, and they're 75% of the project's value. It's all legit, but if you don't know how it works, it sounds like fraud. That said, the judges and lawyers obviously do know how it works and they've found t to be fraud. So either he made some terrible mistakes, or he was doing some bad dealings. Probably both.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2022 12:02 pm

As I type, this is the news out of Washington, DC that puts some of this in perspective:

Quote:

The private consortium managing Maryland’s Purple Line project has signed a $2.3 billion contract with a new construction team to complete the long-delayed light-rail line, according to the consortium and the Maryland Transit Administration.

The deal, which went into effect Thursday, adds $1.46 billion to the Purple Line’s construction costs, bringing the total to $3.4 billion. That’s almost 75% more than the $1.97 billion the state initially budgeted. About $1.1 billion of work was completed before the original contractor quit in fall 2020 after several years of cost disputes with the state.

Reaching “financial close” on the replacement construction contract means funding has been secured. It’s also significant because it allows major work on the stalled 16-mile project to resume, which project officials have said will occur starting this spring. Under the latest timeline, the rail line between Bethesda in Montgomery County and New Carrollton in Prince George’s County will begin carrying passengers in fall 2026 — more than four years behind schedule.

State officials have attributed the escalating construction costs to changes in the project’s “risk profile” and the coronavirus pandemic’s effects on insurance rates, labor shortages and materials.

More here:
https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/b ... story.html

So, apparently there's a proper textbook way to screw over the government for billions, but not for hundreds of thousands................

JR May · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:14 pm

> So, apparently there's a proper textbook way to screw over the government for billions,
> but not for hundreds of thousands................

Hmmm, had not thought of it that way. Two Army radio programs that I am familiar with, JTRS and WIN-T, both ran a few billion over budget by their well known, very large, prime contractors and in the end were failures which were ultimately cancelled. No one went to jail, most of the Army project managers went on to become generals. Go figure.

Just one correction....the charges against John were in the tens of thousands, not hundreds of thousands. I did request a copy of the full contract via FOIA but have yet to receive it.

J.R. May

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Fri Apr 15, 2022 2:47 pm

wilkinsd wrote:

The bankruptcy case was dismissed without a discharge of any debts. That means there were no assets to distribute. A bank that held the mortgage on the car repair facility had a security interest on any assets with nothing left over. To be honest, there weren’t a lot of assets to begin with, most things were leased or rented. The schedule of property included tools that looked like they came from Harbor Freight...

I see. Since the bank was the only secured creditor, the judge just said, "It's yours" and washed his hands of it. I've seen that before, too. That means the bank is going to have to sell the assets to try to recover their loss. I would have thought that a steam shop would at least have boiler tools and possibly a flanger, the kind of stuff you can't rent. Likely they do but the bank doesn't know what it is.

Pegasuspinto · **Joined:** Fri Mar 26, 2010 11:43 am **Posts:** 783

HA. Betcha a dollar the 'priceless' steam shop tools are 'safely' in a barn under some hay, sold as scrap for petty cash before the door was chained shut. In a few years JER LLC will be advertising boiler capabilities that leave the 'inner circle' of steam guys wondering how they dug up rare machines.

co614 · **Posted:** Sat Apr 16, 2022 8:59 am

I'm told that the fatal tank car tragedy that killed 2 workers at Wasatch Railroad Contractors Wyoming freight car repair shop is under active federal ( OSHA ? ) investigation with a report expected in the next few months.

This incident was not part of the just concluded fraud trial.

Ross Rowland

Becky Morgan · **Joined:** Tue Jun 22, 2010 4:22 pm **Posts:** 495

co614 wrote:

I'm told that the fatal tank car tragedy that killed 2 workers at Wasatch Railroad Contractors Wyoming freight car repair shop is under active federal ( OSHA ? ) investigation with a report expected in the next few months.

This incident was not part of the just concluded fraud trial.

Ross Rowland

That one is especially concerning because of several things I didn’t see mentioned oin the brief excerpt from the preliminary report. If there really wasn’t a watchman ready to call out the other worker when the first one came out, it would be further and worse evidence of a “who needs all that, we got away with it so far” attitude that seldom ends well. Most safety measures look excessive until you actually need them.

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Sat Apr 16, 2022 12:38 pm

Pegasuspinto wrote:

HA. Betcha a dollar the 'priceless' steam shop tools are 'safely' in a barn under some hay, sold as scrap for petty cash before the door was chained shut. In a few years JER LLC will be advertising boiler capabilities that leave the 'inner circle' of steam guys wondering how they dug up rare machines.

Yeah. It occurred to me, after I wrote my message above, that WRRC very likely WAS renting their boiler tools... from JER LLC. Especially since JER LLC was formed over a decade ago, likely for just that purpose.

co614 · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:33 am

I've been told that he felt that since the freight car repair shop was located on a sovereign Indian reservation that OSHA and other rules didn't apply??

I've also been told that they continued to do freight car repairs after they lost their AAR certification stamp and charged customers as if they were still certified. Those customers then had to have the cars immediately sent into an AAR certified shop and have the repair(s) done again.

The story gets sadder by the chapter.

Ross Rowland

QJdriver · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2022 10:47 am

The tip of the iceberg....

Trainlawyer · **Posted:** Mon Apr 18, 2022 12:09 pm

co614 wrote:

I've been told that he felt that since the freight car repair shop was located on a sovereign Indian reservation that OSHA and other rules didn't apply??

I've also been told that they continued to do freight car repairs after they lost their AAR certification stamp and charged customers as if they were still certified. Those customers then had to have the cars immediately sent into an AAR certified shop and have the repair(s) done again.

The story gets sadder by the chapter.

Ross Rowland

This is actually a glitch in the AAR's rules which I believe cited in the prior thread. If the certification expires (as opposed to being revoked) it remains in effect with no clear drop dead date. With no certification there is nothing for the AAR to revoke. The failure to renew in a reasonable time with all of the monkey business circulating around is certainly a red flag but its absence for a short time is not. Under the circumstance reviewing all of the repairs is simple prudence.

GME

Lima Superpower · **Joined:** Fri Mar 17, 2017 3:46 pm **Posts:** 73

co614 wrote:

I've been told that he felt that since the freight car repair shop was located on a sovereign Indian reservation that OSHA and other rules didn't apply??

I've also been told that they continued to do freight car repairs after they lost their AAR certification stamp and charged customers as if they were still certified. Those customers then had to have the cars immediately sent into an AAR certified shop and have the repair(s) done again.

The story gets sadder by the chapter.

Ross Rowland

A man named Scott Tucker tried that Indian Reservation trick to try to hide from federal regulations and oversight for his extremely shady multi-gazillion dollar payday loan business. He is now spending his declining years in the Graybar Hotel.

BSFSRYFAN · **Joined:** Tue Aug 07, 2018 6:56 pm **Posts:** 92

It made the news:

https://www.wyomingnews.com/news/local_news/cheyenne-business-head-convicted-of-wire-fraud-employee-endangerment/article_dc5603fc-1f39-56a3-b9c9-3a7511099c52.html

o anderson · **Posted:** Sun Apr 24, 2022 2:00 pm

Here is a short article that is not behind a paywall:
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2022/04/22/cheyenne-railroad-contractor-convicted-of-exposing-employees-to-asbestos/
Since it was not shared earlier, it appears, the quote below from that article should be of interest to RYPN readers:

Quote:

Rimmasch will be sentenced in July and faces a maximum penalty of 95 years in prison and $1.2 million in fines. Wasatch, which has filed for bankruptcy, faces $2 million in fines.