Charges reduced in work-release case

Sentencing won't take place until November, after a background check.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- John J. Bialik's charge of faking jail work-release papers has been reduced to disorderly conduct, and a prosecutor has recommended a suspended sentence.
Bialik, 26, of Matthews Road, Boardman, was in municipal court Friday for trial. The trial, which was reset twice, was avoided when his Boardman attorney, J. Gerald Ingram, reached a plea agreement with Bassil Ally, an assistant city prosecutor.
The trial had been set for 10:30 a.m., but at noon, the trial hadn't started and the subpoenaed witnesses were told there would be a recess until 1:30 p.m. The plea agreement was signed at 2:05 p.m., and the witnesses were then free to go.
The falsification charge, which carried up to six months in jail, was amended to disorderly conduct as part of the plea agreement, with a maximum penalty of 30 days in jail. Ally recommended to Judge Robert P. Milich that Bialik receive a 30-day suspended jail sentence, $150 fine, 30 hours' community service and one year's probation.
Ally said he discussed the plea with deputies and that they were OK with it.
Judge Milich ordered a background check and set sentencing for Nov. 3.
Arrested after review
On Nov. 20, 2002, Bialik was met at a job site and taken into custody after a review of his work status by the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department. Bialik had been in jail since Nov. 4, 2002, convicted of DUI and driving under suspension.
Municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly had sentenced him to a total of 90 days in jail on the charges and granted him work-release privileges. She revoked his work release when he was taken into custody at his job site.
The falsification charge was filed Nov. 22, 2002.
The employer Bialik listed on his jail work-release application -- American Dream Designs, 6590 South Ave. -- hadn't been in that location for at least two months. Henry Martin, the owner, told The Vindicator that he obtained work by word of mouth and had two women, one of whom was Bialik's sister, take messages for him.
CCA was monitor
Community Corrections Association Inc., a halfway facility on Market Street, was responsible for monitoring Bialik's work status.
Although Martin was listed as the contact person for CCA to verify Bialik's work, Martin said he hadn't spoken to anyone at CCA until Nov. 19, 2002, when the sheriff's department began making inquiries. Last November, Martin blamed CCA for what happened to Bialik and said he had to find another roofer to finish the job at a car sales lot on South Avenue.
"I don't blame the sheriff's department," Martin said at the time. "It was CCA's job to get ahold of me, and that should have been done weeks ago."
Sheriff's Maj. Michael Budd said Bialik's mother picked him up at the jail at 6:42 a.m. Nov. 20, took him to breakfast, then took him to work at 8:12 a.m. The night before, Bialik's father took his son to dinner before dropping him off at the jail at 6 p.m.
Budd said inmates are permitted only to travel to their jobs and back, with no side trips. He said the cell phone number he checked for Bialik's work contact turned out to be Bialik's sister, who acknowledged that she had been confirming that he was at work when CCA called to check.
Before court Friday, Ingram said his client was charged with falsification "for going to breakfast."
meade@vindy.com