The former supervisor of a small Catskill Mountains town ravaged by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011 pleaded guilty Monday to charges he fraudulently obtained nearly $25,000 in recovery aid for his business.
Kory O’Hara, who was the town supervisor of Prattsville, pleaded guilty in federal court in Albany to wire fraud.
In pleading guilty, he admitted that between 2013 and 2015, he obtained false invoices from a modular home business purporting to reflect construction work performed on his automotive garage, O’Hara’s Service Station. The work was never performed. O’Hara then submitted false invoices and checks to fraudulently obtain grant money under a state revitalization program, according to U.S. Attorney Carla Freedman.
O’Hara faces up to 20 years in prison and will be required to pay $24,915 in restitution to the state.
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O'Hara, 44, declined to comment outside the courtroom, according to the Times Union.
A co-defendant previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of offering a false instrument for filing, and the federal charges against him were dismissed.
