TRUMBULL PURCHASING PROBE Delmont sentenced to prison

He still hinted at allegations of wrongdoing by others, saying he is the 'fall guy'.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- The central figure in the 31/2-year-old Trumbull County purchasing probe used a sort of gallows humor while waiting for his sentencing hearing to begin Friday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court.
"As long as you stay sick, you stay out of jail. If you get better, you go to jail," Tony Delmont mused of his fate, indicating the scenario that played out a while later when Judge Peter Kontos sentenced him to three years in prison as soon as he is healthy enough to report.
Delmont gave the court a letter from his doctor at University Hospitals HealthSystem Ireland Cancer Center indicating he has acute lymphoblastic leukemia and would die without the treatment he receives at the hospital.
It said he is vulnerable to life-threatening infectious complications and will need the cancer treatments for three years. "Without such treatment, he will quickly die from his disease," Dr. William Tse wrote, adding that his chance of surviving the disease is less than 50 percent, even with the treatment.
Judge Kontos set Delmont's reporting date for prison for April 3 and indicated that his $60,000 fine will also be due by that date. The court will await further reports on Delmont's health before determining whether he is healthy enough to go to prison, Judge Kontos said.
Delmont, 50, formerly of Warren but now living in Willard, was sentenced to three years in prison on each of seven felony counts of bribery, theft in office and money laundering. The sentences will run at the same time.
Conviction
The county's former maintenance director, Delmont was convicted on the charges in 2004 for helping cleaning supply companies bilk some $400,000 from Trumbull County between 1999 and 2002 in return for bribes.
He was expected to testify in cases against some of the other defendants in the case, but the county prosecutor's office said in October that Delmont could no longer do it because of his cancer.
Authorities say Delmont bought maintenance and cleaning supplies in huge quantities and at exorbitant prices. Delmont said he gave $50,000 to elected officials, as well as sporting event tickets, electronic equipment and other gifts, but no public officials have been charged.
Before his hearing Friday, Delmont appeared to be still hinting at these allegations, saying he is a fall guy. "I had a part I played. I am responsible for that, but if they need a fall guy, I'm it. I thought I was doing what I had to."
Delmont said he was diagnosed with cancer about six months ago and spends much of his time in hospitals receiving treatment.
Karen Delmont, 52, also of Burning Oaks Drive, N.E., Tony Delmont's estranged wife, pleaded no contest to money laundering two weeks ago and was found guilty. Judge W. Wyatt McKay will sentence her for her role after a presentencing investigation. Chris Becker, an assistant prosecutor for Trumbull County, said he would expect her to get probation, not jail time.
Karen Delmont helped her husband launder $17,000 worth of bribes from Barry Jacobson, who was working for a Bedford Heights vendor at the time. The vendor has said Jacobson was convicted of crimes he personally committed and for which he was solely responsible.
Karen Delmont deposited two checks totaling $17,000 in the Delmonts' bank account and later paid two amounts of $10,000 each from that account to buy the ITAM Club on Chestnut Street in Warren on March 16, 2000, Becker said.
The reason for the amounts being less than $10,000 was to avoid a federal requirement that transactions over $10,000 be reported, Becker said.
Guilty pleas
Jacobson, 37, of Chagrin Falls, former mayor of Lyndhurst, pleaded guilty in September 2003 to one charge each of bribery and complicity to theft in office. Jacobson said in a sworn statement that Delmont said some of the bribes would be distributed to other county officials.
Barry Bonchak, 63, of Aurora, a salesman for a chemical and maintenance product company in Cleveland, pleaded guilty in August 2004 to two misdemeanor counts of bribery and one misdemeanor count of theft, and agreed to pay $27,000 in restitution. Bonchak said in an affidavit that he paid thousands of dollars to be able to do business with Trumbull County.
Also awaiting sentencing is Daniel A. Donofrio III, 40, of Brookfield, a contractor who scrubbed the floors of county buildings. He pleaded guilty to two theft charges in July and agreed to make $12,000 in restitution to Trumbull County at the time of his sentencing.
He could face six months in jail and up to a $1,000 fine, but failure to cooperate further with "investigators of Trumbull County's janitorial purchasing practices" could result in prosecution of the original charges and 12 months in jail, his plea agreement states.
The county prosecutor's office and state investigators began investigating the maintenance department purchases shortly after The Vindicator in 2002 began running a series of articles showing excessive purchases of janitorial supplies.
Facing charges
Three other individuals still face charges in the case:
Dennis Pirko, 57, of North Jackson, a heating repairman, pleaded innocent to bribery, money laundering, theft and failing to file state tax returns. Prosecutors said Pirko paid $1,600 in bribes to Tony Delmont. His trial is set for May 15.
Terry Maiorana, 51, and Linda Maiorana, 49, of Gilbert, Ariz., are charged with bribery, money laundering and two counts of theft. Terry Maiorana is set to go on trial May 15, and Linda Maiorana's trial is set for June 5. They ran a company called Lid Chem Inc. of Canfield.
Authorities have said Lid Chem and a related company, Tri-County Supplies, collected $800,000 from Trumbull County for janitorial supplies since 1993 without holding a formal contract or submitting a bid.