Heating repairman faces new theft, bribery charges

Funds went into Delmont's retirement account soon after the scandal broke.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;By STEPHEN SIFF & lt;/a & gt;
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Prosecutors say a heating repairman, who made hundreds of thousands of dollars from Trumbull County, failed to do several jobs for which he was paid and billed the county more than once for other work.
A Trumbull County grand jury handed up seven new charges against Dennis Pirko of North Jackson on Monday.
Prosecutors say that in one instance, Pirko appears to have charged taxpayers $1,345 to replace a $5 part in a boiler at the county-owned Wean Building. In another case, he charged $1,275 to replace a part that was not replaced, the indictment says.
About the caseTo secure county business, Pirko paid bribes to former maintenance department director Tony Delmont, including $3,500 Delmont used to buy credit in the Ohio Public Employee Retirement System, prosecutors say.
Delmont got the cash Aug. 13, 2002, prosecutors noted. That was nine days after The Vindicator first printed a story about problems with the way the maintenance department made purchases.
Retirement system records are not public. Delmont had nearly 27 years' seniority at the time, however. At Delmont's age, full retirement benefits would have come with 30 years' service.
Delmont has pleaded innocent to a seven-count indictment charging bribery, money laundering and theft. Although fired by commissioners, he continues to receive workers' compensation checks for 72 percent of his $71,000-a-year salary after an auto accident in a county truck in February 2003, officials say.
Second time
The indictment Monday is the second time prosecutors piled additional charges against Pirko, whose one-man company, Northern Engineering, billed Trumbull County $327,000 for parts and labor since 1997. He pleaded innocent at two earlier arraignments and is expected to plead innocent again Friday to the new theft and bribery charges.
"It would appear to be overkill on the part of the prosecutor's office," said Pirko's lawyer, Atty. Don L. Hanni Jr. "Mr. Pirko has continually insisted that he has done nothing wrong and has refused to cooperate because he believes he has nothing to cooperate about. This is prosecutorial misconduct."
Pirko is free on $50,000 bond.
In the new charges, prosecutors list invoices totaling nearly $16,000 that they say were at inflated prices, and invoices totaling $1,328 the county approved and paid twice.
Previous charges allege that Pirko paid $2,500 in bribes to Delmont, who had them deposited in his wife's bank account to avoid detection, and failed to file state income tax returns between 1998 and 2002.
Pirko also was not registered with the city or the county building department to perform heating or air conditioning repairs.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;siff@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt; & lt;a href=mailto:sinkovich@vindy.com & gt;sinkovich@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;