Elections board wants Angelo to amend report

The commissioner said he has not filed an insurance claim for the missing cash.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH and STEPHEN SIFF
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County Commissioner Joseph Angelo Jr. will be asked to amend his most recent campaign finance report because he failed to mention $4,000 in campaign cash he said was stolen from his pants.
The missing money should have been noted and explained as an expense in the annual campaign finance report Angelo filed Friday, said board of elections director Norma Williams. If the money was paid back, that should have been reflected elsewhere in the report, she said.
Angelo said he didn't file a letter because he paid the money back.
"I didn't know I had to do anything else," Angelo said. "I cashed in a stock and paid the money back. I thought that was the end of it."
After speaking to Williams on Friday, however, Angelo said he learned that a letter must be sent.
"They want a full explanation on the matter so I'll do it," the commissioner said.
What happened
On May 23, Angelo told police that someone stole the money out of a pair of pants hanging in his bedroom closet. He told police he had no idea who the thief could be.
Angelo said that he took $4,000 out of his campaign account so he could put it in a higher interest bearing account. He took the money out in cash and placed it in a pants pocket.
He said he believes the money was taken the weekend of April 26, but he waited to file a report because he was searching for the money.
Angelo said Friday he did not file an insurance claim. Warren Police Chief John Mandopoulos said the case is still open, and no arrests have been made.