Joseph Kuchar pleaded guilty to a felony count of mail fraud on the city of St. Louis' Sewer Lateral Line program,

Joseph Kuchar pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection with the city of St. Louis' Sewer Lateral Line program, which is funded by a special property tax levy on city residents, U.S. Attorney Catherine Hanaway announced Monday.
Kuchar, 44, of House Springs, Mo., operated four construction companies in St. Louis, which participated in the city of St. Louis Sewer Lateral Line Repair program. He made small cash payments to streets department inspectors in order to encourage the inspectors to appear in a timely manner for inspections related to the Sewer Lateral Line Repair Program, thereby avoiding paying his workers for "standing around." Additionally, Kuchar failed to pay prevailing wages to his workers on projects falling under the Sewer Lateral Line Repair program despite representations to the contrary made on the related certified payroll forms. Kuchar admitted with his plea that he underpaid prevailing wages by approximately $60,000 on the program's construction projects.
He pleaded guilty to a felony count of mail fraud. Kuchar was indicted in December 2007.

Kuchar faces a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison and/or fines up to $250,000 when he is sentenced on May 13.