WARREN Municipal judges fire deputy clerk

No criminal charges have been filed in the case reported this week.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- For the second time in less than three months, the municipal judges have fired a deputy clerk of their court amid a police investigation of a theft of money.
On Thursday, municipal judges Thomas P. Gysegem and Terry F. Ivanchak issued a journal entry firing Sandra McCready, a deputy clerk in the court's criminal division.
Judge Gysegem, the court's presiding and administrative judge, said Friday that McCready was fired because of a theft investigation.
Police Lt. Gary Vingle and Detective Jeff Hoolihan are conducting a criminal investigation of the theft of an unknown amount of cash from the municipal court, according to a police report filed Thursday afternoon. Hoolihan was in the clerk's office conducting the investigation Friday afternoon.
However, Judge Gysegem said Friday afternoon: "We're not sure we have a loss" in the case reported Thursday. The judge said it's possible to have a theft offense without a loss. Saying he wasn't familiar with the details of this case, the judge gave a hypothetical example of someone stealing money and then returning it.
Thursday's police report says that there's one offender and that the theft offense occurred before 9 a.m. Jan. 16, but the beginning date and time for the theft is left blank on the report.
No criminal charges have been filed against McCready, who had worked for the court since 2002. If any charges are filed in this case, they would come from the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office, Judge Gysegem said.
Plea of innocence
In the other theft case, Judith M. DeJacimo, 49, of Glen Drive Northeast, a former deputy clerk in the court's civil division, has pleaded innocent to two counts of theft in office and one count of tampering with records in the disappearance of more than $25,000 from the civil division of the clerk's office. The charges are third-degree felonies.
DeJacimo, who had been with the court since 1993, was placed on unpaid administrative leave after the money in her case was reported missing in November. Subsequently, the judges received her letter of resignation the same day they issued the journal entry firing her, Judge Gysegem said.
In response to a civil suit filed by the municipal court, Judge Peter Kontos of the county common pleas court issued a restraining order to prevent DeJacimo from spending any money that may have been embezzled from municipal court.
The grand jury indictment charges DeJacimo with stealing by "taking cash paid to the court for filing fees, costs and other obligations and by shorting the amount of money paid by the court to recipients of garnished wages" between January and November 2005.
The indictment also charges her with falsifying computer records concerning amounts received from garnishment checks, entering fake check numbers for false amounts, and deleting records of receipts to conceal her theft from the court and from recipients of garnished wages.
State visitors
Two forensic auditors from the state auditor's office will be visiting the municipal court over the next year to "put together what has occurred over the years" in the DeJacimo case, Judge Gysegem said.
Municipal Court Clerk Margaret Scott and all her deputy clerks are covered under a bond that covers all city employees for up to $25,000 per crime loss, with a $10,000 deductible, according to Nancy Ruggieri, deputy city auditor.
A thorough background check is done before the hiring of the clerk and deputy clerks, Judge Gysegem said.
The state auditor's office has given the municipal court good financial audit reports, with no findings for recovery, for each year preceding the current theft cases, and it has given the court a favorable performance audit, said Judge Gysegem, who is starting his 11th year on the bench.
"When you talk to the state auditor's office, they say that our books and the way we run things out front are as good as any court that they've ever dealt with in the state of Ohio,'' Judge Gysegem said.
However, the judge concluded: "No system is perfect."