MAHONING VALLEY Judge finds contractors guilty in theft case

The judge said the contractors took advantage of an elderly woman's loneliness.
By STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- A Poland couple is guilty of bilking a 73-year-old woman out of more than $30,000, ostensibly for repairs to her home.
In a judgment entry Tuesday, Judge Stuard found William Mamounis of Island Drive, a salesman for Ohio Window Designs, guilty of three counts of theft by deception. The judge found him innocent on related charges of misusing the elderly woman's credit card.
Also on Tuesday, Mamounis' boss at Ohio Window Designs, company owner Sheryl Frost, pleaded guilty before common pleas Judge Andrew Logan to one count of money laundering, one count of grand theft and one count of theft from an elderly person.
Frost and Mamounis share the same address, and Frost was referred to as Mamounis' girlfriend in courtroom testimony.
About the case
In the judgment entry, Judge Stuard said the victim was a lonely, elderly woman who may have been entering the early stages of dementia.
"Into her life comes a phone call from a telemarketer and into her life, as a result, came Defendant and his friend," Judge Stuard wrote, referring to Mamounis and Frost.
He said they exchanged phone calls and cards. She secured two mortgages against her home and paid Ohio Window designs the proceeds, the judgment entry said. She also lent her credit card.
"Through her acts of 'friendship,' in a period of time from Nov. 10, 2000, [the defendant] had gone from having a mortgage-free home and income of $642 a month to a 73-year-old woman who by October 2001 owed $71,712 with monthly mortgage payment of $598 and a credit card debt she could not possibly pay," the judgment entry says.
The court concluded that Mamounis took advantage of the woman by helping her apply for the second mortgage for $32,800 and promising to pay back the money on her behalf.
In December, Mamounis and Frost signed a note agreeing to pay back $32,800. They will be sentenced after investigations by court personnel.
siff@vindy.com