FBI agents secretly investigated Evans Landscaping owner Doug Evans for nearly four years before a grand jury indicted him on six charges related to wire fraud in 2017.
The FBI agent who led that probe, Matthew DeBlauw, was the first witness to testify as Evans’ long-awaited trial began in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati. If convicted, Evans faces up to 103 years in prison.
“This case is about lying and cheating,” assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Glatfelter told the jury during her opening statement. “The defendants lied and cheated to gain an unfair advantage against their competitors.”
Prosecutors allege that Evans and an IT employee, Korey Jordan, created a new company, Ergon Site Construction, in 2008 to act as a front for Evans to win minority contracts with the state and the city of Cincinnati—140 city demolition contracts worth nearly $2 million.
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