Ex-deputy starts 41-month sentence

The inmate's projected release, with good time, is September 2008.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Frank Carbon, former chief deputy at the Mahoning County Sheriff's Department, is serving his 41-month sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Coleman, Fla.
Carbon reported to the prison Friday, said Michael Truman, Bureau of Prisons spokesman in Washington, D.C. With good time, Carbon's projected release is Sept. 20, 2008.
Truman said inmates are required to work at least five days each week but can work more, depending on their job assignment.
The work ranges from orderly (washing dishes, cleaning bathrooms), carpentry and masonry to grounds keeping and plumbing, he said.
The charges
In May, Carbon, 58, of Bonita Springs, Fla., pleaded guilty 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. He admitted that he stored and sold marijuana.
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.
In August, U.S. District Judge Peter C. Economus sentenced Carbon to 41 months in prison, to be followed by three years' supervised release and outpatient drug and alcohol treatment. Carbon was not fined but must make restitution of $24,650 to the IRS.
The judge recommended to the Bureau of Prisons that Carbon be incarcerated at the federal prison in Coleman. The prison, 50 miles northwest of Orlando, has a residential drug and alcohol program. If Carbon, who has substance abuse problems, is accepted into the program, successful completion would knock one year off his sentence.
Carbon left the sheriff's department at the end of 1996, after Sheriff Edward P. Nemeth lost re-election to Phil Chance.
Other pending charges
Carbon's plea agreement requires him to cooperate with the government in related co-conspirators' cases. The cooperation could mean testimony before a grand jury and at trial.
Roger S. Bamberger, an assistant U.S attorney assigned to the organized crime drug enforcement task force, has said that he expects charges to be filed against two others.
The case was investigated by the IRS and Drug Enforcement Administration.
The government said that Carbon and William Umbel, 57, of Youngstown 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, a former restaurant owner, is incarcerated at the Federal Correctional Institution in Elkton. His projected release is March 23, 2009.
Umbel's plea agreement states that he accepted deliveries from others -- 200 to 600 pounds at a time -- for his customers.