Canfield man charged with defrauding North Canton company out of nearly $2.5 million

A Canfield man was charged with mail fraud related to a scheme to defraud a North Canton company out of nearly $2.5 million, said Steven M. Dettelbach, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio and Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI's Cleveland office.

Peter J. Luchansky, 60, was charged via criminal information with one count of mail fraud.

Luchansky was employed as an information technology manager with a large medical practice in North Canton. Beginning in 2005, he formed two Ohio companies with registered mailing addresses in Ohio. From 2005 until July 2014, Luchansky used these companies to bill the medical practice for computer equipment and services. In turn, the medical practice paid Luchansky’s companies for invoices submitted by Luchansky and his companies. The medical practice was the only customer of Luchansky’s companies, according to the information.

Luchansky fabricated the invoices and the amounts for payment for services and equipment that he did not provide in order to obtain monies from the medical practice. Through the submission of the false and fraudulent invoices of these companies, Luchansky defrauded the medical facility of at least $2,486,028, according to the information.

Luchansky has agreed to forfeit certain property obtained as a result of these false and fraudulent invoices including cash, jewelry appraised at $43,940, 2009 Corvette, 2007 Lexus, 2000 Harley Davidson motorcycle and 108 firearms. In addition, Luchansky previously submitted funds totaling over $2 million to be used as restitution to the victims in this case.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal records, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation.  In all cases, the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

The investigation preceding the filing of the information was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Canton Office. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Linda H. Barr.

An information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt.  A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.