COURT Former deputy pleads guilty

Carbon faces 41 to 51 months in prison, his lawyer said.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Frank Carbon, former chief deputy at the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department, has pleaded guilty to storing tons of marijuana for friends, selling some and being a tax cheat.
Carbon, 58, of Boardman and Bonita Springs, Fla., pleaded guilty Tuesday in U.S. District Court to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana -- 1.1 to 3.3 tons -- from as early as 2000 and throughout 2001. The amount was listed in the charge.
He also pleaded guilty to filing a false tax return for 2001. He showed a negative income of $30,670, but actually had $81,157 in earnings and owed a tax of $24,650, the IRS said.
U.S. Magistrate Judge George J. Limbert, after questioning Carbon, accepted the pleas, which now pass to U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus for sentencing Aug. 24. Carbon remains free on unsecured bond and his travel is restricted to Northeast Ohio and central Florida.
Cooperation agreement
Carbon, looking thinner than his days at the sheriff's department nearly 10 years ago, consulted with his Youngstown lawyer, Damian A. Billak, before answering Judge Limbert's questions about his role in the marijuana business. Carbon admitted he stored and sold marijuana.
Carbon left the sheriff's department at the end of 1996, after Sheriff Edward P. Nemeth lost re-election to Phil Chance.
Judge Limbert ordered that Carbon's presentence report include a psychiatric evaluation. Carbon faces 41 to 51 months in prison, Billak said.
Carbon's plea agreement, reached last month when the charges were filed, requires him to cooperate with the government in related co-conspirators' cases. The cooperation could mean testimony before a grand jury and at trial.
The case was investigated by the IRS and Drug Enforcement Administration. It is being prosecuted by Roger S. Bamberger, an assistant U.S. attorney assigned to the organized crime drug enforcement task force.
Not alone
DEA Special Agent Doug Lamplugh, head of the Youngstown office, has said that Carbon's involvement was similar to restaurateur William Umbel's. Umbel, 57, of Youngstown, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute marijuana and will be sentenced June 7.
Tuesday, Bamberger told Judge Limbert that Carbon and Umbel were friends and, because of that, Carbon allowed a building he owned on Southern Boulevard to be used for storage of marijuana. He also allowed storage at a house he was selling.
Umbel's plea agreement states that he accepted deliveries from others -- 200 to 600 pounds at a time -- for his customers.
Umbel made news last month when three local judges wrote letters on his behalf to Judge Economus. Over the years, Umbel's eateries included the Pyatt Street Diner on Pyatt Street and Colonial House on Market Street, both closed, and the Open Hearth on Steel Street, where he is no longer involved.