CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The owner of a now-defunct railcar repair company has been sentenced to 30 months in prison, and he and the company have been fined for wire fraud and endangering employees at the facility.
John Eldon Rimmasch, 47, of Cheyenne, was sentenced in a July 5 hearing by Federal District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson. Rimmasch, owner of Wasatch Railroad Contractors, had previously been found guilty on five counts of wire fraud and one count of knowing endangerment; at the hearing, the judge also found he had attempted to obstruct justice by presenting a fraudulent exhibit during the trial and abused his position of trust during the commission of the crimes. He was fined $7,428 plus a special assessment of $600; the now-closed company was ordered to pay a special assessment of $2,400.
The conviction and penalties stem from a case in which Wasatch contracted with the National Park Service to restore a 1923 Central of New Jersey passenger car for use at Steamtown National Historic Site. The work was not completed and Rimmasch and the company billed the Park Service $39,000 for asbestos abatement, even though it was not done. In the process, workers were exposed to asbestos. [see “Railcar restoration firm and owner convicted of fraud …,” Trains News Wire, April 25, 2022].
“Our office will vigorously prosecute those who commit environmental crimes or engage in fraud against the government,” Acting U.S. Attorney Nicholas Vassallo said in a press release announcing the sentencing. “We appreciate the excellent investigative work performed in this case by the United States Department of the Interior, Office of the Inspector General and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.”
He paid for what he did to #3985 and #844. Wasatch Contractors cannot be trusted. You read what I posted I’m not going to repeat it you know what happened. Wasatch Contractors defrauded the federal government and also the railroads they were hired to work on. One of their employees was put in jail before Rimmasch was and he stole brass from 1309 they had to make new parts. You saw what he did to #844 and #3985 and the shoddy work that they did on #6936 and 5511 plus that cnw diesel that Ed donated to the city of Boone Iowa. Union Pacific hired him to restore their locomotive fleet when Bob retired they bought the job and put all those locomotives in The roundhouse bad order and left their junk on the west side of the turntable. Ed had to donate it to RRHMA and to other contractors who are going to fix it and do it right. 3985’s rusty boiler Rimmasch did it so did Steve Lee they put the wrong tubes and the wrong flooring material inside that cab. They were contracted to remove asbestos from Steam shop and then the ceiling collapsed and everything got wet for employees that were on their payroll were exposed to asbestos and then they put the blame on Ed Dickens and Austin Barker you heard that story the case was dropped. It took them 18 months to restore 844 to operation and now she is sitting in the shop waiting for her next inspection. As for 3985 and 6936 sent to Silvis 5511 they did not restore the locomotive and now Alex Beams and AJ Murphy are in the driver’s seat trying to restore it. The point is Wasatch contractors cannot be trusted and nobody wants to hire a company that steals from railroads and does not do the job. I can go on every single locomotive on the roster that is undergoing restoration they had to redo those restorations because of one person John Rimmasch he is the reason why all the steam locomotives and diesels are bad order he did lousy work and he did not pay them for the job which was not done. His company is not licensed for asbestos removal, they are not licensed by the Federal Railroad Administration or the American Association of Railroads to do locomotive work, they do not have a department of Transportation issued permit to be on railroad property, they are not licensed by the union that does chemical safety which resulted in two deaths, none of their welders are certified by the welding guild and none of them are journeyman or Master Machinist, and they use the wrong material for rolling stock which includes copper pipe which should not be used on steam locomotives, certain items that are not supposed to be used on diesels, crowbars which are not supposed to be used on passenger cars under restoration, and none of them passed an inspection to prevent being exposed to asbestos. If you want to restore a locomotive to operation give it to AJ Murphy or to Alex Beams do not let John Rimmasch touch your locomotive or rolling stock he will destroy it.
I hope Steamtown gets it money back. I did not see that in the article