TRUMBULL COUNTY Fiorenzo withdraws request for expungement

The former county engineer is living in Florida.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A former Trumbull County engineer convicted of several charges has withdrawn his request to get his criminal record expunged.
James Fiorenzo filed a motion Wednesday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court asking to withdraw his motion for expungement.
Fiorenzo filed a motion for expungement last month. A hearing was scheduled for March 7. Court officials said that because Fiorenzo is withdrawing his motion, the hearing will be canceled.
"He decided not to go forward with it at this time," said Atty. John Fowler, who, along with Atty. Ted Ivanchak, represented Fiorenzo. "He is now living in Florida and he may decide to pursue this at another time."
Fowler declined to say why Fiorenzo changed his mind.
Opposition: Kelli K. Norman, an assistant Portage County prosecutor who is acting as a special prosecutor in James Fiorenzo's case, filed a motion earlier this month opposing expungement.
Norman stated in her motion that the public has a right to know about Fiorenzo's six felony convictions.
She added that an expungement would make it difficult for the public to find out about the case if he would choose to move to "another part of the state to resume" his public career.
Background: Fiorenzo was convicted Nov. 8, 1994, of theft in office, complicity to theft in office and four counts of forgery for stealing county money through a remodeling project at his office. He was found guilty of trying to get the county to pay for work not done and materials not delivered.
He was sentenced to three years in prison and was released in July 1997.
Expungements are sometimes granted to first-time offenders. An expungement would seal Fiorenzo's court records, and they would no longer be public.
The sheriff's department began investigating Fiorenzo after county commissioners and Edward Bush, then county auditor, refused to pay bills submitted by three contractors for work done at Fiorenzo's office when he was county engineer.
The bills totaled $25,183. State law says projects should be competitively bid when they exceed $10,000.
sinkovich@vindy.com