Former Mahoning deputy enters guilty pleas

YOUNGSTOWN — A former Mahoning County deputy sheriff pleaded guilty to charges of unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, passing a bad check and theft.

The charges will be dismissed, however, if she successfully completes follow-up to drug rehabilitation during a two-year probation.

Kim Marciano, 43, of Wampum Drive, appearing with her lawyer, James Gentile, entered her plea today before Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, who warned her he could send her to prison for up to three years if she doesn’t successfully complete the terms of her probation.

She started with the sheriff’s department in 1994 and left last year.

David Toepfer, an assistant Trumbull County prosecutor, appeared as a special prosecutor here because Marciano’s brother, Robert E. Bush Jr., is chief of the criminal division in the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s office. Bush also is a former Youngstown police chief.

Toepfer said Marciano already has completed a residential drug treatment program at the Community Corrections Association, which will be responsible for her follow-up counseling.

The passing a bad check charge pertains to a bounced $8,000 check she wrote Feb. 2, 2006, for a car at a Meridian Road dealership.

The unauthorized use of a vehicle charge stems from her unauthorized use of a rental car last year. The theft charge pertains to a May 10, 2006, incident at the Wal-Mart in Boardman.

“I think it’s a fair and just outcome, given her background and the struggles that she’s had with drugs that have led to a number of problems in her life,” Toepfer said of Marciano’s probation.