Prosecutor to ask judge to dismiss charges against company president

By TIM YOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Charges against a figure in the Trumbull County purchasing scandal will be dismissed this week.
Chris Becker, an assistant county prosecutor, said he will ask Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court to dismiss the bribery, theft and money laundering charges filed against Linda Maiorana.
Becker said Tuesday that he will seek the dismissal because Maiorana, 49, of Gilbert, Ariz., had a minimal role in the case.
Maiorana, who along with her husband, Terry, operated a company called Lid Chem Inc. of Canfield. Becker said Linda Maiorana, company president, only signed the checks.
Authorities have said Lid Chem and a related company, Tri-County Supplies, collected $800,000 from the county for janitorial supplies since 1993 without there being any formal bidding. The county bought the supplies at inflated costs.
No prison term
Terry Maiorana, 51, pleaded guilty last Monday to two misdemeanors -- bribery and theft. He will be sentenced later, but Becker said he wouldn't go to prison.
Terry Maiorana agreed to make $5,200 in restitution. The company will pay a $10,000 fine.
The prosecution has had to work out deals in the case because two witnesses had became unreliable.
Rescheduled
Another defendant in the purchasing probe, Barry Bonchak, 63, of Aurora, a salesman for a chemical and maintenance product company in Cleveland, was scheduled to appear Tuesday before Judge Logan.
Instead, the appearance was rescheduled for June 6.
Bonchak had pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of bribery and one misdemeanor count of theft.
Bonchak said in an affidavit that he paid thousands of dollars to be able to do business in Trumbull County.
Medical treatment
The central figure in the purchasing probe, former county maintenance director Anthony Delmont, who was sentenced in January to 31/2 years in prison for receiving kickbacks from vendors, has not been ordered to start serving his sentence. He is undergoing cancer treatment.
Delmont was convicted on charges in 2004 for helping the companies bilk $400,000 from the county between 1999 and 2002 in return for bribes.
The only defendant awaiting trial is Dennis Pirko, 57, of North Jackson, a heating repairman. He has pleaded innocent to bribery, money laundering, theft and failing to file state tax returns.
Prosecutors said Pirko paid $1,600 in bribes to Delmont.
yovich@vindy.com