BY BEN L. KAUFMAN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
A federal grand jury in Cincinnati handed up additional indictments this week against a construction company and its Ohio regional supervisor in the fatal fall of a worker.
The grand jury also added the company safety director to those indicted in the death.
The company and two executives will be notified by mail. Arraignments should be held in the next couple of weeks, prosecutor William P. Sellers IV said on Thursday.
The additional charges follow the guilty plea of a foreman and his promise to assist investigators.
In July, the grand jury charged LeMaster Steel Erectors Inc. of Elkhart, Ind., with one count of willfully violating federal safety regulations and three counts of obstructing justice.
The indictment said LeMaster failed to erect required safety cables and interfered with investigators from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) looking into Jeffrey Highfill's death in 1996.
Wednesday, LeMaster also was charged with conspiracy to obstruct justice, commit perjury and defraud the United States in order to conceal the true condition of safety equipment at the Mason site. The company pleaded not guilty to the original charges.
Supervisor Jay Holloman, 41, of West Chester, initially was charged with two counts of obstruction of justice. The grand jury this week also accused him of conspiracy.
The new indictment named Michael A. Onyon, 44, of Goshen, Ind., for the first time. He is the company safety director, accused now of conspiracy and lying to grand jurors.
Foreman Ronald Lee Creighton, 38, of Sardinia, Ohio, pleaded guilty to one count of making a false statement. He told OSHA that safety cables were in place when Mr. Highfill fell.
