TRUMBULL COUNTY Officials receive subpoenas in purchasing investigation

The county administrator would not say if he received a subpoena.
By STEPHEN SIFF
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Trumbull County Auditor David Hines and Commissioner Joseph J. Angelo Jr. have been subpoenaed to appear this week in front of a grand jury investigating county purchasing.
Others ordered to appear before the secret panel Thursday or Friday include Commissioner James Tsagaris, Sheriff Thomas Altiere and a handful of county maintenance department workers.
This will be the second time Angelo, Tsagaris and Altiere have been required to appear.
Hines had not been subpoenaed previously, although his deputy, Adrian Biviano, was earlier invited to appear before the secret panel to explain the department's procedures.
"I don't know what it's about," Hines said. "I'm going in unprepared."
He said he did not intend to retain an attorney. The subpoena did not request that he bring any documents with him.
Allegations
The grand jury is investigating what prosecutors say was a scam to overcharge taxpayers on cleaning and maintenance supplies in exchange for bribes. Former maintenance director Tony Delmont has pleaded innocent to bribery, money laundering and theft-in-office charges.
In a hearing before Delmont's termination by the county, prosecutors said he stole about $400,000 from the county from 1998 to when the scam was detected in 2002.
So far, five people have been indicted in the case.
One vendor, Barry Jacobson of Envirochemical Inc. in Bedford Heights, said in a sworn statement that Delmont said some of the bribes would be distributed to other county officials. No other county officials have been charged.
Jacobson pleaded guilty to bribing Delmont and helping him to steal taxpayer funds.
Warren Mayor Michael O'Brien, who was a county commissioner during the period that prosecutors say the theft was taking place, said he has not been asked to testify before the grand jury a second time.
County Administrator Tony Carson would not say if he received a subpoena. "Since the day the investigation began, I've cooperated," he said.