No officials implicated in probe

The prosecutor said the process was a matter of 'truth,' not 'yield.'
By ED RUNYAN
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
RAVENNA -- Victor Vigluicci, special prosecutor in the Trumbull County purchasing probe, says no criminal charges are planned against elected officials.
"I think it is fair to say that there is not sufficient credible evidence to support an indictment, let alone conviction, and that is the conclusion we and the grand jury have come to," the veteran Portage County prosecutor told reporters Friday at his office.
Vigluicci said he was asked by his friend, Trumbull Prosecutor Dennis Watkins, to investigate allegations contained in the affidavit of principal purchasing scandal figure Tony Delmont two years ago.
Delmont said he took bribes from vendors so they could sell overpriced products and services to the county. Investigators have said Delmont and the vendors swindled the county for $400,000 between 1999 and 2002.
Delmont also said county commissioners at the time -- James Tsagaris, Joseph Angelo and Michael O'Brien -- along with Sheriff Thomas Altiere and others "made it known to me that it was part of my job as Trumbull County maintenance supervisor that I must sell large volumes of campaign fundraising tickets in return for cash payment, which I delivered to these Trumbull County officials."
Delmont and one vendor, Daniel Donofrio III, are serving jail sentences, while vendor Barry Jacobson has completed his sentence. Two others, Barry Bonchek and Dennis Pirko, await sentencing. Two more, Terry Maiorana and Karen Delmont, received probation.
These cases were all handled by the Trumbull County Prosecutor's Office.
Vigluiccisaid a team of forensic accountants, prosecutors and investigators from the Ohio Attorney General's Office and Ohio Auditor's Office assisted him in investigating the elected officials.
In the end, Vigluicci referred O'Brien and Angelo to the Ohio Elections Commission for possible sanctions in relation to their campaign money. O'Brien later paid $1,875 in fines, but the case against Angelo was dropped because the statute of limitations had run out.
Allegations easy to make
Neither case was referred back to Vigluicci for prosecution, and nothing else that arose from the investigation was indictable, he said.
Asked whether he was a satisfied with the yield for his two years of work, Vigluicci said: "It's not a matter of yield. It's a matter of searching for the truth. My philosophy has always been to go where the evidence takes me."
Vigluicci added that it's popular to accuse elected officials of wrongdoing. "Allegations are easily made and tough to prove," he said. "Public officials are easy targets, especially by disgruntled employees."
Vigluicci said he left "no stone unturned" and kept a special grand jury for the entire nine months allowed in order to gather as much evidence as possible. He declined to say how many individuals testified before the grand jury, but Watkins has said the number of subpoenas was 400.
Vigluicci said his investigation essentially ended last summer, after he heard the last grand jury testimony. He has waited until now, however, to speak about the case because he wanted to wait until Watkins' prosecutions against Delmont and the vendors was complete -- to see whether additional evidence would be unearthed.
Those prosecutions did not turn up any new evidence, Vigluicci said. If any additional evidence is unearthed in the future, he could be called back into service. Otherwise, he believes his role is over, he said.
As to whether he knows of any FBI or other investigation still being done of public corruption involving elected Trumbull County officials, Vigluicci declined to comment. "If I did [know], I wouldn't tell you," he said.
He likewise declined to answer specific questions about elected officials that have arisen over the past couple of years, such as whether Altiere received $800 from vendor Maiorana for eight golf tickets.
In Maiorana's plea agreement, it stated that Maiorana gave the money to Delmont so that Delmont could turn it over to Altiere's campaign. Chris Becker, assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, said at the time that he believes Delmont kept the money.
Limited by state
Vigluicci, and Watkins earlier in the week, said they disagree with an Ohio law that requires a prosecutor to refer campaign finance questions to the Ohio Elections Commission, which decides whether a case goes back to the county for prosecution.
Vigluicci said he is not saying that he would have prosecuted O'Brien or Angelo for the "irregularities in bank records and campaign finance" that he found, but said his "hands are tied" by the Ohio law.
He said this is one of the only areas in state law where a board or commission in Columbus determines whether charges can be filed.
He and Watkins also said they disagreed with state law that allow vendors to contribute to the campaigns of elected officials with whom they do business.
Vigluicci added that he believes the public mistakenly thinks that giving money of this type is illegal. It is only illegal if the money is given to receive favors, is given without being reported by the candidate, is above a certain amount, or in some other cases, he said.
"That [current law] easily leads to pay-to-play allegations and blurs the line" for whether elected officials can be prosecuted, Vigluiccisaid.
As for the case against Angelo that was dropped for being filed too late, Vigluicci said it was unclear how the elections commission would rule, so he felt it was best to give the case to the commission to decide whether the case was too old.
runyan@vindy.com