TRUMBULL COUNTY Sales rep pleads guilty to bribery

The salesman said he gave cash to county employees and elected officials.
BY PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- In Trumbull County, the words fund-raisers, tickets and golf outings are used as substitutes for bribery, according to a salesman of industrial supplies who pleaded guilty to bribery.
Before entering guilty pleas Monday to two misdemeanor counts of bribery and one misdemeanor count of theft, Barry Bonchek, 61, a salesman for Kinzua Environmental Inc. of Cleveland gave a written affidavit to county prosecutors, stating he paid out thousands of dollars yearly in return for getting a chance to do business in Trumbull County.
"I go to other cities and counties if I pay cash for a fund-raiser, or I pay by check, my name is usually written on an official list and I get a receipt and I actually get the tickets," Bonchek stated in the affidavit. "In most places, fund-raisers are held a few times a year. In Trumbull County, they come up monthly and receipts are rarely if ever given."
Bonchek, of Cleveland, is free on a $5,000 bond. Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court said Bonchek will be sentenced after the investigation into the county maintenance department is completed.
Possible jail time
He could receive up to 18 months in jail. He also agreed to pay $27,000 in restitution, which he did Monday, officials said.
"We have conveyed the truth and consistent with that truth, we have accepted our responsibility with the court today," said Atty. Michael C. Hennenberg, who represents Bonchek.
Bonchek declined to comment.
The salesmen stated in the two-page affidavit he also had a county public official tell him "never forget me, and I won't forget you." The affidavit does not mention any public officials by name.
Commissioners Joseph Angelo and James Tsagaris, former Commissioner Michael O'Brien and Sheriff Thomas Altiere have all been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury hearing evidence on the purchasing probe.
Angelo, Tsagaris and Altiere could not be reached to comment.
O'Brien, who has said he does not believe he is a target of the probe, said Bonchek did buy tickets once for a fund-raiser and is listed on his campaign reports.
Condo and cash
Bonchek also stated that he allowed officials to use a condominium in Florida. He said he would give cash to county employees and sometimes directly to elected officials.
"On another occasion, while I was in the maintenance office, another Trumbull County public official wanted me to buy tickets to his golf outing," Bonchek's affidavit states. "I gave him all the cash I had in my pocket which was between $300 to $400. I never got a receipt or attended the golf outing."
He also admitted selling a large amount of products or charging excessive prices to Trumbull County in an attempt to get back some of the money he paid to public officials.
"Lastly, before the excessive prices, sales and thefts were uncovered, I had a conversation with a Trumbull County employee who agreed with myself that the excesses and greed associated with the purchasing practices were eventually going to blow up and get everyone in trouble," Bonchek stated. "I should have withdrawn from this market long before the bomb fell."
Secret indictment
Bonchek was secretly indicted last week on the charges and agreed to come in Monday to plead.
The Vindicator began running stories about excessive prices for cleaning supplies and shoddy bookkeeping in the maintenance department in August 2002. Shortly after the stories were published, Prosecutor Dennis Watkins launched an investigation and asked the state Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation and the state auditor's office for assistance.
Since the investigation began, Tony Delmont, the former maintenance department director, his wife, Karen, and several vendors have been indicted.
sinkovich@vindy.com