Prosecutor says state ensured thoroughness

When purchasing irregularities came to light, the prosecutor called in help.
RAVENNA -- Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins says the presence of out-of-town investigators from the Ohio attorney general's and auditor's offices should reassure the public that purchasing probe cases were handled as fairly and thoroughly as possible.
"We had top investigators on this," Watkins said.
When the investigation was through, more than 400 subpoenas had been issued and more than 10,000 documents had been examined by out-of-town professionals, he noted.
Watkins said once his office became aware of irregularities in the purchase of items such as air fresheners and cleaning supplies, he quickly recommended that the county commissioners stop doing business with some of vendors until questions could be answered.
Calling help from Columbus
After that, he called in help and got at least seven state accountants, auditors and investigators. Their work tracked down illegal activities among seven companies in which the owner was a friend of fired-then-jailed county maintenance director Tony Delmont.
In many cases, the companies had only post office boxes rather than addresses and appeared to be created solely to sell overpriced products and services to the county, Watkins said.
Watkins asked that a special prosecutor be assigned to investigate when allegations against public officials were made. A Trumbull County Common Pleas Court assigned Portage County Prosecutor Victor Vigluicci as special prosecutor for the case because the two counties have a reciprocal agreement.
Watkins' office has said that it has completed all of its prosecutions against the vendors in the case. Two defendants remain to be sentenced, salesman Barry Bonchek on Tuesday and heating contractor Dennis Pirko in about a month.