Official pleads guilty

The recommended sentence is one year's probation and a $500 fine.
By LAURE CIOFFI
VINDICATOR PENNSYLVANIA BUREAU
NEW CASTLE, Pa. -- Lawrence County commissioners are poised to remove Donald Conti from the Lawrence County Housing Authority.
Conti, known as "Ducky," pleaded guilty Wednesday in Lawrence County Common Pleas Court to a gambling charge. Judge J. Craig Cox will sentence him March 1.
District Attorney John Bongivengo said Conti's recommended sentence is one year's probation plus court costs, the cost of destroying the gambling machines, and a $500 fine.
Commissioner Dan Vogler said commissioners instructed the county solicitor to take the necessary steps to have Conti removed as a housing authority member.
"He [pleaded] guilty to a crime. My understanding is [by pleading guilty] he said, 'I broke the law.' We don't want people who broke the law sitting on authorities," Vogler said.
The commissioners appoint housing authority board members.
It's unclear how long it will take Solicitor Tom Leslie to take this matter to court, but Vogler said Leslie was instructed that it was his "No. 1 priority" as solicitor.
Controversy
Conti recently has been embroiled in controversy as one of the two remaining members of Affordable Housing of Lawrence County, a nonprofit offshoot of the county housing authority.
Last month the group changed its direction from building new housing for the disabled to taking out a $250,000 bank loan to buy seven duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes in the city with the intention of remodeling and renting them to the disabled.
Shortly after taking out the loan, four Affordable Housing board members resigned. Conti and William Bonner remained.
Last week, the housing authority voted 3-1 to terminate a contract with Affordable Housing that allowed it to collect money from the clothes washers and dryers in the authority's four high-rise apartment buildings. The authority also served notice that Affordable Housing had violated a management contract agreement.
Conti voted against both measures.
Raid on club
Pennsylvania State Police identified Conti as a trustee of the Vita Nuova Club on East Washington Street when they raided it and took four video poker machines in July 2004.
In exchange for Conti's guilty plea, prosecutors agreed to drop two other gambling charges and a liquor law violation.
Bongivengo said his office had a good case, but believes a similar sentence would have been given if Conti was convicted at trial.
"I'd rather have the conviction in hand rather than risk a jury trial. It also saves the expenses of the county," he said.
A second set of charges filed by the New Castle Police Department concerning gambling and liquor law violations is pending.