Elyria businessman Mark O’Donnell pleaded guilty Wednesday to a bribery charge stemming from an expansive investigation into the Ohio Department of Transportation’s Garfield Heights office.

The guilty plea could send O’Donnell, 60, to prison for up to a year.

O’Donnell is the owner of Elyria-based North Shore Door Co. and has been described as a cooperating witness in the investigation that began in April 2007 after a former employee of O’Donnell’s sent an e-mail to the state accusing him of offering gratuities to ODOT officials.

“He made thousands of dollars in payments to an ODOT official to increase his sales,” said Ryan Miday, spokesman for Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Bill Mason.

The money was funneled to ODOT officials in a number of ways, Miday said, but would not elaborate on how or to whom the payments went.

But in a report completed last year by Ohio Inspector General Tom Charles, Charles accused O’Donnell of hosting an annual “ODOT Boat Day” on his 36-foot boat for himself, ODOT officials, vendors and Cleveland strippers, all of whom would spend a day “drinking, swimming and frolicking.”

The report said O’Donnell was trying to win the favor of Dennis Kratochvil, the ODOT district facilities manager, and the district equipment manager, Terrence Kosmata.

Kratochvil and Kosmata have not been charged in connection with the allegations, although Kratochvil has pleaded not guilty to an allegation that he threatened a witness in the case.

O’Donnell declined to comment Wednesday but said last month that the allegations against him centered on money he paid to help fund Christmas parties thrown by ODOT workers at Cleveland strip clubs.

O’Donnell’s attorney, Ronald Skingle, also declined to comment Wednesday.

Charles’ report said that in exchange for the bribes, Kratochvil allowed O’Donnell to overcharge for labor, assess a fuel surcharge to ODOT and purchase off-contract products.

O’Donnell is scheduled to be sentenced Oct. 28 and has no agreed-upon sentence.

Two other ODOT vendors who already have pleaded guilty in connection with the ODOT case, Christian Hilty and Jeffrey Bauer, have each received six-month prison sentences.

Both Hilty and Bauer also have been working with investigators in connection with the case.

In addition to O’Donnell, Hilty and Bauer, six other people were charged last month in the initial round of indictments issued in the ODOT investigation. All have been described as cooperating witnesses and swiftly pleaded guilty.

Among the others who pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing are Craig Gorsuch, president of West Shore New Holland in North Ridgeville. Gorsuch pleaded guilty to bribery and was expected to be sentenced today, but that hearing was postponed, Miday said.

Gorsuch gave hunting trips and rifles, among other incentives, to ODOT officials in exchange for business at his company, according to the report.

Prosecutors have said as many as 31 people ultimately could be charged in the investigation.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.