In one of the largest fraud cases in Wisconsin, two road construction companies and four executives were indicted by a federal grand jury in Milwaukee for conspiring to rig bids on $100 million worth of state highway and airport construction projects funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Those indicted in U.S. District Court in Milwaukee were charged with rigging bids from about 1997 until Jan. 13, 2004. They included: Streu Construction Co. of Two Rivers; Vinton Construction Co. of Manitowoc; Ernest J. Streu of Green Bay, president of Streu Construction; John Streu of Two Rivers, secretary/treasurer of Streu Construction; James J. Maples of Manitowoc, president of Vinton Construction; and Michael J. Maples of Manitowoc, vice president of Vinton Construction.

The conspirators allegedly allocated the construction projects among themselves, designating which company would submit the lowest bid for a project.

Ernest and John Streu and James and Michael Maples were arrested Jan. 13. This is an ongoing investigation being jointly conducted by the FBI, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin and the DOT’s Office of the Inspector General.