MAHONING COUNTY Former CIC director faces trial in theft case

The Geauga County woman has pleaded innocent to the charge.
THE VINDICATOR
By BOB JACKSON
VINDICATOR COURTHOUSE REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Trial is scheduled for Dec. 10 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for the former executive director of the Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp.
Robin Rogers, 44, whose address is listed only as Auburn Township, is charged with one count of theft, a fourth-degree felony. She is accused of converting nearly $40,000 in checks written to the CIC for her own use from February to December 2002.
Rogers was secretly indicted by a county grand jury July 31. She was not arrested until October when she reported to authorities in Chardon Municipal Court, in Geauga County, where her bond was set at $3,000.
She was arraigned in common pleas court here Oct. 15, entering a plea of innocent.
Authorities say the woman deposited the checks in an account in her name at a bank in the Cleveland area.
Bank records subpoenaed
City police had subpoenaed bank records in the theft of 16 checks totaling more than $39,000 after an executive with the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber filed a police report March 24. The chamber has a contract to provide staff to the CIC, a city agency.
The bulk of the money -- roughly $37,000 -- represents checks from AMPCO Parking, which leases land from CIC for its business.
The balance of the money represents checks from small downtown businesses that lease space.
According to Vindicator files, a chamber official told police the theft was discovered in April 2002. Copies of the cashed checks totaling $39,210, handled at a Bank One branch in Beechwood, were turned over to police.
Rogers was hired by the CIC in 2001 and was fired earlier this year. She had been off work several months before then because of an injury she sustained in an accident.
bjackson@vindy.com