Ideas expressed about engineer

FBI says Mayor O'Brien was under pressure not to give a statement.
By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Former Mayor Hank Angelo and his safety-service director went to bat for David Robison, former city engineer sentenced to prison for public corruption.
Robison was sentenced Thursday in U.S. District Court in Cleveland to 33 months in prison for extortion, racketeering and mail fraud.
Angelo, who served as mayor from 1996 to 2003, and Fred Harris, Angelo's safety-service director, wrote kindly of Robison of Cortland.
Angelo said Thursday that Robison remains his friend.
"I was brought up that you don't desert your friends," he said.
But current Mayor Michael J. O'Brien asked Judge Solomon Oliver during a victim impact statement before sentencing to consider the embarrassment Robison has brought to the city.
Pre-sentence letters
Angelo and Harris wrote Judge Oliver as part of a pre-sentence investigation after Robison pleaded guilty in August.
In his Sept. 8 letter to the judge, Angelo wrote: "I ask this court for consideration for Mr. Robison.
"I believe with my whole heart that Mr. Robison has the utmost remorse for the errors committed and can again be the exemplary citizen the courts and our society would expect."
In his undated letter, Harris told of Robison being a "very hardworking and trustworthy employee" and that his work "aided in the growth and the improvement of not only the city of Warren, but also the entire Mahoning Valley."
Mayor speaks
John Kane, resident agent in charge of the FBI's Boardman office, said after the sentencing that O'Brien showed integrity for offering his comments to the court.
O'Brien had been under pressure not to give the statement, Kane said, although he wasn't specific as to who was exerting it.
O'Brien would not say where the pressure came from, although he pointed out it didn't come from either Angelo or Harris.
"As mayor, I find no satisfaction in doing this today. I find it very sad," O'Brien told the judge.
"However, as mayor, I am a custodian of the people and for the public employees who do their job professionally with character and dedication and to the citizens that pay their salaries," he said. "We have to denounce those who violate the pubic trust."
Robison could have been sentenced to an additional eight months in prison.
"When people see headlines for someone who has worked for the government that has taken money for personal gains, they consequently paint all government employees with the same brush," O'Brien said.
Angelo asserted that there are those who want their "pound of flesh" out of Robison, especially the media.
Angelo wrote that Robison was a "go-to" guy, being instrumental in various city projects. "He is also a man who lost his way and is about to pay the price," he added.
yovich@vindy.com