MAHONING COUNTY Sequence indicates when sheriff knew of jail abuse

The sheriff ducked questions about his second in command, an activist says.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- In late summer 2003, Mahoning County Sheriff Randall A. Wellington was told about inmate abuse in the jail and given the names of deputies allegedly involved.
The information was contained in a letter to the sheriff written by Austintown Police Chief Gordon Ellis. The letter was a recap of excessive force in the jail that then-Deputy Ronald Kaschak admitted to during pre-employment voice stress analysis tests in the late summer of 2003 at the Austintown Police Department.
No answer
Youngstown attorney Mark Belinky, member and past president of the Democrats of the 17th and 6th Districts, said Wellington didn't answer when asked at the club's meeting this week what Austintown police told him. The club met to question Wellington about federal inmate-abuse charges filed against four current and four former sheriff's department employees, one of whom is Michael Budd, who, until indicted last week, had served as Wellington's second in command.
"I asked about Austintown. The sheriff was asked directly by me -- I said, 'Didn't Kaschak say Budd had other deputies beat a prisoner?' and he clearly ducked the question," Belinky said Wednesday. "I thought it was a most important question -- if he knew and did nothing about it."
Belinky said he didn't have past Vindicator stories at the meeting to refresh his memory about Kaschak and Austintown police.
Grand jury probe
On Nov. 4, 2003, The Vindicator reported that a federal grand jury in Cleveland was investigating the sheriff's department. When interviewed for that story, Ellis said that he and three of his officers had testified at the grand jury and, without discussing the testimony, did say what led up to it -- a deputy's allegations of excessive force.
The chief then confirmed that the deputy was Kaschak and said the sheriff was told of the allegations via letter. Ellis said he didn't have a copy of his letter when asked by The Vindicator.
Ellis was also asked by the newspaper for a copy of an officer's narrative that details what Kaschak said during his pre-employment tests. The chief said he would first seek an opinion from Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, who, until Wednesday, declined to release the narrative, saying it was related to the federal case.
Wellington, also interviewed for that Nov. 4, 2003, story, said that, in response to Ellis' letter, Kaschak became the "main thrust" of an internal affairs investigation that included a sergeant and three to four deputies, whom the sheriff refused to name. The sheriff said "bottom line," that Kaschak's allegation of an inmate's being roughed up in the jail was unfounded and no disciplinary action was taken.
No documentation
When The Vindicator asked for copies of the internal affairs investigation documents in November 2003, the sheriff said the FBI took the originals and he kept no copies. Until placed on leave, Budd had been head of the Internal Affairs Division.
The FBI seized sheriff's department files August 20, 2003. The receipt shows Wellington turned over original personnel files and disciplinary and training records for, among others: Kaschak, Budd, William DeLuca, Ronald Denson, Mark Dixon, Raymond Hull and John Rivera.
Guilty plea
Kaschak pleaded guilty in April to his part in the inmate beating and agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. At that time, Wellington offered a different explanation of the IAD investigation of Kaschak, saying it was never completed because the FBI had taken all the files.
The Austintown officer's narrative, recapping what Kaschak alleged, says: "Sgt. DeLuca stated that a call came down from Maj. Budd to 'put the inmate in the hospital' and Deputies Hall, Rivera, Dixon and himself [Kaschak] were given that order. ... Kaschak further stated that no complaint was filed by the inmate nor was there an internal investigation."
DeLuca, Denson, Dixon, Hull, Rivera and Ryan C. Strange were indicted in July. DeLuca and Denson are retired, and Dixon, charged in an unrelated sex case, is no longer with the sheriff's department. Kaschak resigned.
The sheriff placed Hull, Rivera and Strange on paid leave, which is contrary to the union contract. The contract says indicted deputies either work without a gun or go on unpaid leave, but Wellington explained that because the charges are crimes of violence he cannot have the deputies work anywhere in the department.
DeLuca pleaded guilty in September and agreed to cooperate.
Budd indicted
Budd was indicted last week, accused of ordering the beating of one inmate and ordering or personally beating two other inmates.
Budd, demoted from major to deputy after his indictment, is also on paid leave.
Effective Monday, Thomas Scanlon, now a captain, will be promoted to major and assume Budd's responsibilities, Wellington said. Scanlon has been with the department since May 1980.
meade@vindy.com