Feds say owner of Pa. snow, ice removal company padded bills; seek forfeiture of his Mt. Washington mansion

The owner of a Pittsburgh-based snow and ice removal company has been indicted on accusations that he padded customer bills for services that weren’t performed, and authorities are seeking the forfeiture of his Mt. Washington mansion.

Charles W. Lantzman, 50, owner of Snow and Ice Management Co. of Pennsylvania, is charged with six counts of wire fraud and three counts of money laundering. He was arraigned Wednesday. The business operates on the North Side with more than 20 full-time employees, according to its website.

The company works with hundreds of subcontractors to serve about 800 customers in at least seven states, according to the indictment. The subcontractors log the services they performed with the company and that information was converted into a bill for the customer.

A grand jury said that some of those bills, sent between January 2017 and April 2019, contained charges for services that were not performed. Lantzman is accused of having employees pad the amounts owed on thousands of occasions, according to court papers.

The six wire fraud counts stem from bills sent between December 2018 and March 2019 to customers in Arizona, Kansas, Missouri and Wisconsin for bills totaling nearly $24,000, the indictment states. From the business account, Lantzman used $31,000 to make payments on a mortgage on a Pittsburgh property in December 2018 and March 2019 and a $245,000 payment in March 2019 to satisfy a loan associated with a New Jersey property.

Authorities are seeking the forfeiture of the two properties. One is known as the Bailey Avenue “Mt. Mansion” on Mt. Washington. He purchased the 12,000-square-foot house with a view in January 2017 for about $2 million, according to Trib archives.

The Mt. Mansion, built in 2004, has four bedrooms, eight bathrooms, a bar with an adjacent dance floor and disc jockey booth, massive wine cellar, gym with sauna and steam room, three levels lined with floor-to-ceiling windows, decks and balconies overlooking the North Shore and Downtown skylines and even a swimming pool with a view.

Attorneys Robert J. Ridge and Neel Kapur said that the charges against Lantzman are false and he is innocent. He continues to operate the business, which has in previous years been named among the best snow contractors in North America by the Accredited Snow Contractors Association.

“This indictment does not change any of those accomplishments, and we will conduct business as usual and look forward to this upcoming snow season,” the attorneys said.

Lantzman is free on $10,000 unsecured bond. His passport has been surrendered, according to court records.