Man gets probation in purchasing scandal

Prosecutors say $400,000 was stolen over three years.
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Terry Maiorana, part-owner of a company that bribed ex-Trumbull County maintenance director Tony Delmont and stole $5,200 in a purchasing scandal, has been sentenced to two years of probation.
Maiorana, 51, formerly of Canfield, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of bribery and theft May 15, appeared Monday before Judge Peter Kontos of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to receive the sentence agreed to in a plea agreement.
Maiorana received six-month suspended jail sentences on both crimes.
The company he ran with his wife, Linda, Lid Chem, was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and court costs. Terry Maiorana paid $5,200 in restitution to Trumbull County, said Chris Becker, assistant prosecutor. Becker said he believes Maiorana intended to pay the $10,000 fine Monday.
Meanwhile, the special prosecutor who investigated the role of elected officials in the scandal says he will discuss his part of the investigation Friday. Victor Vigliucci said that's because "It now appears that Prosecutor [Dennis] Watkins has concluded his last prosecution of defendants."
Last week, Becker said prosecutions having to do with vendors were complete with the plea bargain by former heating and air-conditioning repairman Dennis Pirko of North Jackson. In all, seven people were charged with crimes in connection with the purchasing scandal.
The charges
Terry Maiorana was accused of giving Delmont an $800 check as a bribe to allow him to sell the county overpriced janitorial services. In May, Becker explained that the $800 was supposed to go to Sheriff Thomas Atliere; the Maioranas received eight golf tickets in return for the money -- and Altiere never reported receiving it.
Becker said the prosecutor's office reduced charges from felonies to misdemeanors against the Maioranas because witnesses in the case -- Delmont and a friend of his, Marietta Brzeczek -- had proved unreliable because of alcohol and memory problems.
He said the bribery part of the case might have been difficult to prove because the Maioranas received something in return for the $800, the tickets. Becker said he believes Delmont spent the $800 by celebrating Brzeczek's 40th birthday in Florida. She was not charged.
If the case had gone to trial, Altiere and current and former county Commissioners Michael O'Brien, James Tsagaris and Joseph Angelo were expected to testify.
Becker said the theft charge stemmed from Lid Chem's referring service calls to two other companies and then adding amounts to the invoices, thereby overcharging the county by $5,200.
$400,000 in theft
Authorities have said Lid Chem and a related company, Tri-County Supplies, collected $800,000 from the county for janitorial supplies since 1993 without any formal bidding.
Delmont, of Warren, was the point man in $400,000 worth of theft from the county between 1999 and 2002, accepting $60,000 in bribes from vendors selling janitorial supplies and services, prosecutors say.
Delmont was expected to report to Trumbull County Jail this morning to begin serving his three-year jail sentence. Delmont will go to the county jail first and then be transported to the state prison system, officials said.
Maiorana's wife, Linda, faced various charges in connection with the bribery and theft by Lid Chem, but Becker said he believed that those charges are about to be dropped because her involvement in the scandal was minimal. She has a hearing set for today before Judge Andrew Logan.
rumyan@vindy.com