Gregory A. White, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced that Melinda Tylek and John Tylek were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Patricia A. Gaughan in Cleveland, Ohio. Melinda Tylek was sentenced to 57 months incarceration followed by 3 years supervised release. John Tylek was sentenced to 41 months incarceration followed by 3 years supervised release. Both defendants were also ordered to make restitution of nearly $1.7 million to Kenco Homes, Inc., and Kenco of Aberdeen, Ltd. The Court also ordered the Tyleks to forfeit their personal residence and a commercial property in Ashtabula County.

Melinda Tylek, age 34, resides at 2437 Cherrywood Court, Roaming Shores, Ohio. John Tylek, age 38, lives at 3425 South Main Street, Rock Creek, Ohio.

On October 20, 2006, the Tyleks were charged through an information with mail fraud and money laundering, and they pled guilty to those offenses on January 12, 2007.

The information alleged that Melinda Tylek was employed by Kenco Homes, Inc., and Kenco of Aberdeen, Ltd., which were general contractors for the construction of custom homes and condominiums. Melinda Tylek worked at the Kenco offices in Beford Heights, Ohio, and her duties included bookkeeping, banking, and paying bills for those companies. The information further alleged that, from January 2002 through January 2006, Melinda Tylek, aided and abetted by John Tylek, defrauded Kenco Homes and Kenco of Aberdeen by causing those companies to issue 224 unauthorized checks totaling $1,777,604.94. The information charged that the Tyleks used those fraudulently-obtained funds for their personal use, including paying the mortgage on their personal residence, making substantial improvements to their residence, paying credit card debt, and transferring funds to other businesses owned by them.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney John D. Sammon, following an investigation by the Cleveland office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.