Toda pleads guilty to money laundering, other charges

YOUNGSTOWN — Deborah L. Toda, 49, of Howland, pleaded guilty today to charges of aggravated grand theft, forgery, money laundering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity for embezzling almost $1.7 million from a dialysis clinic, where she was a bookkeeper.

The aggravated grand theft charge pertains to the disappearance of that sum from the North Central Pennsylvania Dialysis Clinic, and Toda was accused of forgery of $100,000 or more in checks drawn on the clinic’s account. She worked in the clinic’s Boardman administrative office.

She entered her plea before Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of Mahoning County Comon Pleas Court. Sentencing will be in about 45 days after completion of a presentence investigation by the Ohio Adult Parole Authority. She could be sentenced to as many as 30 years in prisoin and fined $40,000.

Toda’s husband, Paul G. Pollis, 40, also was charged with money laundering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The prosecution has entered into an agreement with him in which the charges against him were to be dropped in exchange for his testimony in the Toda case if needed, said Kenneth Cardinal, an assistant county prosecutor.

Vehicles, jewelry and other valuables were seized from the couple’s residence under a search warrant last June. A two-session forfeiture auction, where items prosecutors described as the couple’s “ill-gotten gains” were sold this month, netted more than $300,000 to cover investigation and prosecution costs and begin the restitution process.

The kidney dialysis group and its management company have filed a separate civil lawsuit against Toda, Pollis and the employment agency that placed Toda on the job. She remains in the Mahoning County jail on a $1.3 million bond. She was represented by Atty. Douglas Taylor of New Middletown.