Jury finds man guilty of threatening mayor

The mayor and others had a role in the man's tax case.
PAINESVILLE, Ohio (AP) -- A jury has found a man guilty of charges that he threatened to bomb the home of a judge and two other officials in a dispute over a 45 tax bill.
Joseph Sands, 41, of Madison, was found guilty Wednesday of three counts of conspiracy to commit murder, two counts of conspiracy to commit aggravated arson and one count of engaging in corrupt activity. The Lake County Common Pleas Court jurors acquitted Sands of several other counts.
He faces a possible three to 20 years in prison when Judge Vince Culotta sentences him Dec. 5. Sands' fianc & eacute;, Dawn Holin, 35, faces trial in coming months on similar charges after she was found competent to stand trial.
During Sands' two-week trial, prosecutors produced hours of tape-recorded conversations in which Sands angrily bashed public officials he blamed for mishandling a minor tax evasion case at his auto repair shop.
On the tapes, Sands described bombs he wanted to make even more powerful with ether and other ingredients. He said if children were killed, they would be like "casualties of war."
Others in case
Prosecutors claimed Sands wanted to kill Painesville Municipal Judge Michael Cicconetti, North Perry Village Mayor Tom Williams, village Police Chief Denise Mercsak and local prosecutor Joe Gurley, all of whom had some role in the tax case. The village is about 35 miles northeast of Cleveland.
Jurors acquitted him of the charges involving Mercsak, saying there was insufficient evidence. Prosecutors were happy with the verdict despite the findings of innocence.
"We were kind of expecting it," Assistant Lake County Prosecutor Mark Bartolotta said.
Sands testified that an informant made up the entire plot. But both the FBI and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives considered it a serious enough threat that they kept him under close watch for weeks as Sands bought gunpowder, piping and end caps.