Before he took over as
President of Moser Construction, Terry Moser’s 19 organized crime partners were
known as "Bone Crusher," "Little Jew," and the "Dust King." They sold narcotics
including cocaine to children. People died. Eventually, a Grand Jury indicted
Moser for drug trafficking, "conspiracy to corrupt" and "engaging in organized
crime." Court documents revealed numerous members involvement with, "conspiracy
to corrupt," drug trafficking, "complicity to commit invol[untary]
manslaughter," "complicity to commit aggrivated burglary," permitting drug abuse
in vehicles and dwellings, and cocaine drug abuse.
Moser finally copped a plea of "no contest to the charge of engaging in
organized crime," and "guilty of conspiracy to corrupt another with drugs." He
was initially sentenced to four to twenty-five years in the Ohio State
Reformatory at Mansfield, Ohio. There, he was no longer Terry Moser. Instead, he
was R 110705.
Before the police painstakingly unraveled the twisted strands
of Moser’s crime family, before narcotics agents smashed down doors and arrested
the members of Moser’s crime gang and before the State of Ohio empanelled a
Grand Jury that issued secret indictments against Moser and the others, Moser
and his posse lived high and rich for a two-year spree.
They tore a wide swath through the law-abiding people of Summit County, Ohio,
with their aliases, their new cars, and their drug houses. There was "Little
Jew" and "Bone Crusher," "Chickie Paul," and "Shoes" Aiello, Sharon Briggs
a.k.a. Sharon Knight, who was implicated in a death during a burglary. There was
"Fat Frank" a.k.a. "Dust King" and Penelope Helms a.k.a. "Penny Shower."
The "Bone Crusher" a.k.a. Anthony Thomas, cruised the mean
streets of Summit County without any worries, steering his new Cadillac along
the dope routes when it was time to make deliveries. Jimmy Lee Rutherford,
another trafficker in the dope ring, drove a year-old Oldsmobile while
delivering his drugs.
Bone Crusher also ran a "Drug House." That is where the drug
ring stored, bagged, weighed, prepared their drugs, and hid their stolen swag.
They snorted their cocaine, smoked their marijuana, and partied all night with
women. After enough cocaine and marijuana, they drifted into a haze. Then they
laughed at the chumps – people with straight jobs.
While they made fortunes from selling drugs, and for
threatening and killing as part of the dope game, thousands of honest hard
working people in towns like Akron busted their backs for a few dollars an hour,
to keep food on the table for their families.
Meanwhile, Moser and his crime partners mocked working
people, pausing only long enough for another snort or another joint.
Together, they conspired to import massive amounts of
cocaine, PCP and marijuana into Summit County.
When it was time to sell narcotics to children, according to Count Five of
the indictment, William Darby, Terry Gran, Jimmy "JJ" Jackson and Jimmy Lee
Rutherford were the characters who were selling drugs, including cocaine to John
Mash, who was under 18 years of age.
These narcotic peddlers did not restrict their activities to
the schoolyard, according to the indictment. Both Terry Gran and JJ also
conspired with Terry Moser to "prepare for shipment, ship, transport, deliver,
prepare for distribution or distribute a controlled substance... Marijuana."
If marijuana wasn’t your drug of choice, you’d just step over
to Moser’s colleague "Chickie Paul," who could serve you up heavy weights of
cocaine, according to Count Eight of the indictment.
Maybe you wanted somebody dead. Try Sharon Briggs a.k.a.
Sharon Knight, who along with Rick Campbell, according to Count Nine of the
Indictment: "...she did cause another’s death as ... [the] result of
committing.... a felony in that she did aid and abet Rick Campbell in committing
... Involuntary Manslaughter."
How much time in prison is fair for these kinds of people?
How about two months? This is how much time Terry Moser spent in Mansfield
Correctional Institution after pleading no contest to organized crime conspiracy
and guilty to drug trafficking charges, and receiving a four to twenty-five year
sentence.
After pleading no contest to membership in an organized crime conspiracy that
sold marijuana, cocaine and PCP, whose customers included teenage children, and
whose activities left at least one person dead, Terry Moser served just two
months in jail when his minimum sentence was supposed to be four years. (Case
#79-03-0424 A-X & Case #79-03-0424 S)
That was very convenient for Terry Moser in more than one
way. It kept his resume from showing a large gap for his prison time. However,
Moser’s sordid past still poses questions for current and future customers of
Moser Construction.
Suppose you have a payment dispute with Moser over shoddy
workmanship. Westra Construction had to battle Moser in court over just this
issue. Will you have to worry about "Bone Crusher," Moser’s old colleague,
coming after your children?
In the construction industry, more so than other businesses,
a person’s word counts for a lot. This is because so much is unknown at the
start of a construction job, no matter how well prepared the parties are. What
happens when there is a mistake on the specifications, the weather turns bad,
the soils are the wrong type, or a subcontractor vanishes?
In the tough world of construction contracting, integrity is
all-important. When something goes wrong on a project, will the contractor act
with integrity and make it right? Or will they try to weasel out of their
duties, by citing an obscure footnote in the contract?
A construction customer has to look hard for clues relating
to their contractors’ integrity, in order to figure out how the contractor will
react when a job turns tough.
All of the parties in a construction job must rely on the other parties to
act in good faith and keep both the letter and the spirit of their promises on a
job. That is why it is so important to evaluate the character of the other
parties on a construction job, and to take into account whether they have kept
their word in past business matters.
How much could you trust the word of Terry Moser, a convicted
organized crime drug dealer? If character counts, how much does Moser’s
character amount to?
In light of Moser’s dark past, his continuous involvement in
court cases against his own customers, and fellow contractors, take on a new
light. One might think that Moser, with his criminal past, would desire to stay
out of court. However, his company seems to constantly be in court over one
matter or another.
