By James McNair
The Cincinnati Enquirer

As Bill Erpenbeck marked his 43rd birthday in jail Wednesday, a federal grand jury indicted him on five criminal counts related to alleged witness tampering.

The grand jury also indicted Erpenbeck's 69-year-old father, Tony Erpenbeck.

Each of the two men was indicted on one count of conspiring to obstruct justice and four counts of attempted obstruction of justice. Each count carries a maximum 30-year prison sentence.

The indictments came nearly two weeks after the FBI arrested the Erpenbecks in a sting operation. They were accused of trying to influence the testimony of Bill's sister, Lori, at a hearing on a pre-sentence report prepared for Bill Erpenbeck's bank-fraud conviction.

Lori Erpenbeck also has pleaded guilty to bank fraud and is awaiting sentencing.

U.S. District Judge Arthur Spiegel denied bond for both men Feb. 6, the original date of Bill's sentencing hearing. They are being held in the Hamilton County Justice Center.

According to the indictment, Bill and Tony Erpenbeck "conspired, confederated and agreed corruptly" to "obstruct, influence or impede" a federal court proceeding. The four counts of attempted obstruction stemmed from the four days on which the FBI says the two men tried to persuade Lori Erpenbeck to alter her testimony in Bill's favor. The FBI said Lori Erpenbeck wore a recording device during the alleged conversations.

Lawyers for the Erpenbecks could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The government wants Bill Erpenbeck sentenced to the maximum of 30 years on the bank-fraud conviction. If convicted on the new charges, he faces a total prison term of up to 180 years.

Arraignment for Bill and Tony Erpenbeck on Wednesday's indictment was scheduled for Tuesday.

In a related event, the trustee in Bill Erpenbeck's bankruptcy case, Mike Baker, has filed a motion to claim the proceeds of a U.S. Marshal's Service auction of several Erpenbeck items. The items include a BMW convertible, a fur coat, jewelry and five autographed Washington Redskins jerseys. The online auction for Erpenbeck's Rolex watch ended Wednesday afternoon with a high bid of $9,050. The mink coat drew a $2,500 top bid, not enough to meet the undisclosed reserve price. The buyer of the watch was not revealed.

Also, a new filing in the Erpenbeck fraud case file shed light on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. probe of Peoples Bank of Northern Kentucky.

James Ware, an FDIC supervisory bank examiner, wrote that when Peoples announced the sale of its operations to the Bank of Kentucky in July 2002, the FDIC was "on the verge" of putting the bank up for sale.

Ware said Peoples had become insolvent or substantially weakened by Erpenbeck's bank fraud "in collusion with" former bank officers John Finnan and Marc Menne.

The two bankers have not been charged in the case.

E-mail jmcnair@enquirer.com.