LISBON State attorneys fail to appear at hearing of Steven Strabala

The judge told Strabala to return to work so he could pay his debts.
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- Stephen T. Strabala is to contact Ohio Department of Taxation officials after attorneys representing the state failed to appear at a hearing in Columbiana County Common Pleas Court.
Strabala appeared Friday morning in Judge C. Ashley Pike's court as ordered. The Ohio Department of Taxation filed a motion Sept. 5 seeking the hearing.
Strabala was to tell state officials under oath why he hasn't paid back a debt the state says he owes.
Judge Pike told Strabala he would have sworn him in then allowed him to go to a private office to explain to the state's attorneys why he hasn't paid back the debt.
Since no one appeared in court representing the state, Judge Pike told Strabala he wouldn't keep him long in court since he knew Strabala was missing work to attend the hearing. Pike told him to return to work to earn the money to pay off the debt.
Documents associated with the state's Sept. 5 motion state that on July 10, 1996, a judgment was obtained against Strabala for $20,980, none of which has been repaid.
The document also states that Strabala owes a total of $30,685, once interest and costs are factored in.
Restitution to county
Earlier this year, county Treasurer Linda Bolon said Strabala had paid back about $8,000 on a nearly $4.5 million debt to the county stemming from a scandal in which Strabala and his father, former county Treasurer Ardel Strabala, bilked the county out of about $10 million through illegal investments. Some of the money was later recovered.
Stephen Strabala, 39, made the payments through garnishments on wages earned as a prison laborer while serving eight years of a nine-year sentence for his role in the investment crime, discovered in September 1993.
Ardel Strabala served a year in state prison for his role in the crime. He died in May 1999 at age 60.