Ex-Trumbull official pleads guilty to cocaine possession

WARREN — Tom Mahoney, the former Trumbull County Job and Family Services director fired for allegedly buying drugs from a former employee, has pleaded guilty to cocaine possession.

Mahoney, who offered the plea Thursday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, will have the charge dismissed if he successfully completes a drug treatment program of between one and three years.

Mahoney, 55, of Oakwood Street, Girard, was fired March 23 from the job paying $107,344 per year after a drug task force discovered evidence that Kenneth Greep, 46, of Pleasant Valley Road in Niles, was selling drugs out of his house.

The investigation, which included tape recordings of Greep’s phone calls, implicated Mahoney as one of Greep’s buyers.

Greep was hired to work for JFS on a temporary basis starting in September 2008 at $9.25 per hour up to a maximum of 1,500 hours. The job included health care.

Greep primarily shredded files, Mahoney said. He was also fired in March.

Greep was hired despite having a criminal record because JFS hires ex-cons to help them return to society, Mahoney said.

Greep is charged with three counts of cocaine trafficking.