GREENFORD Items are missing at Traficant farm

The farmhand says he was told to do whatever he could to keep the place running.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
GREENFORD -- Bales of hay worth $7,500 and a late-1980s John Deere tractor with unknown value are missing from the horse farm that took center stage in the racketeering trial of James A. Traficant Jr., reports show.
Elizabeth H. Traficant, a daughter of the imprisoned ex-congressman, detailed what happened in a report she filed Sunday with the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department. The 30-year-old Poland woman is the owner of record of the 76-acre spread at 6908 W. South Range Road.
John Innella, 52, who rents the farmhouse from Elizabeth Traficant, told a deputy that he sold 30 bales of hay to keep the farm running, as per instructions from James Traficant. Innella, who gave the deputy a written statement, said he bought the John Deere tractor in 1995 for his wife and gave it to friends this month.
Noticed hay missing
Elizabeth Traficant, who also gave a written report, said she noticed bales of hay missing from her barn when she visited the farm Sept. 29 and asked Innella about them. Innella, she said, told her he didn't take the hay.
Traficant said she went out to the farm during her lunch hour Sept. 30, and saw Innella's truck hooked to a trailer with her hay on it. She said she confronted Innella's wife.
"She stated they needed the money to go to New York for a death. I explained that was theft," Traficant wrote. "I had my attorney, Joe Gardner, speak to John because he had not paid rent in three months and he was asked earlier that month for the back rent and he stated he did not have it."
Traficant said in her written complaint that Gardner would file for eviction and Innella asked him to wait two weeks, saying he would be out.
Tractor missing
Traficant said she noticed the tractor missing from the back yard when she went to the farm Saturday and, when she asked Innella, he said it was his tractor.
The tractor, Traficant said, was bought in the late 1980s by her parents for their Poland home. It was moved to the farm in 1992 or 1993 when they bought a new one for the Poland residence.
She estimates that 250 bales, worth about $30 each, are missing from the farm, as is the tractor and a weed eater. No value was set for the last two items.
"I never at any time told John that he could sell hay. I told him not to touch it," Traficant wrote. "I also told him if any repairs were needed that he needed to OK them first and I would have the work done."
Traficant said Brian Kidwell told her the hay was sold at the Rogers Flea Market under the Innellas' name, according to the deputy's report.
Testified at trial
Kidwell, of Vienna, testified at James Traficant's racketeering trial March 25 that he had a 600-pound aluminum welder that the congressman wanted to use as an exhibit. It never showed up.
At a press conference July 25, the congressman quoted Kidwell as saying three men took the welder and accused them of being FBI agents. The FBI denied the accusation.
Mall developer J.J. Cafaro gave the $2,900 welder to Traficant in 1999 as a gift in return for favors. Traficant had wanted Kidwell to build an aluminum horse trailer with sleeping quarters, a witness testified.
James Traficant is serving eight years in a federal prison in Pennsylvania. His crimes included having contractors do work at the Greenford farm and not paying them, and having congressional staffers work there while on federal time.
Innella was also a witness for Traficant at trial.
meade@vindy.com