DeJacimo must pay auditing costs

The total of her payments still isn’t clear.

By ED RUNYAN

VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF

WARREN — Despite a recent ruling in the civil case against former Warren Municipal Court deputy clerk Judith DeJacimo that said she would not be forced to pay auditing costs connected with her $77,000 theft, another judge ruled Friday that she will.

Judge John M. Stuard of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court ruled Friday that DeJacimo will pay to the city of Warren a lump sum of $14,000 plus $450 per month for several years from a state disability payment.

The total of the payments is not clear, however.

DeJacimo’s attorney, Michael Rossi of Warren, said the payments would be made until her court probation ends in about four years. David Toepfer, an assistant county prosecutor, said DeJacimo might have to pay until around 2021, the year the payments are set to end.

Court documents say DeJacimo was approved for a monthly disability payment of $1,151 beginning Dec. 1, 2005, through the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System. The amount rose to $1,186 Dec. 1, 2006, because of a cost of living increase. That money was all held in escrow, however, and has accumulated to $23,308.

Rossi would not comment on the type of disability that allowed DeJacimo to qualify for benefits.

Another county common pleas court judge, Peter Kontos, ruled last month in the civil suit the city filed against DeJacimo that the former clerk could not be forced to pay for the approximately $123,000 in auditing and overtime costs incurred because of her thefts.

But Toepfer and Rossi said that ruling had no bearing on the criminal case, which Judge Stuard oversaw.

Though Ohio law didn’t allow the city to recover the auditing costs in the civil case, Judge Stuard had the authority to order DeJacimo to pay them as a condition of her release from prison last spring, Rossi said.

Judge Stuard sentenced DeJacimo, 50, of Warren, to 18 months in prison in January but released her after she served 60 days in accord with the terms of her plea agreement. At the time he released her, he ordered her to pay back the stolen amount and the cost of the audit.

Toepfer said $48,000 of the stolen money has been repaid to the city so far, with the remaining $29,000 available from retirement benefits and theft insurance. Those funds will also provide the $14,000 she will pay toward the auditing costs and Rossi’s attorney’s fees of $8,000.

Among the costs associated with DeJacimo’s thefts were $77,095 charged to Warren by the Ohio Auditor’s office for a special state audit and $46,413 in overtime paid to municipal court employees who also audited the court’s books. The state auditor handled several years’ worth of accounts, and court employees handled several other years’ worth.

runyan@vindy.com