Palumbo indicted by grand jury

STAFF report

WARREN — Michael Palumbo, a former Trumbull County Jail corrections officer fired after being accused of altering a document relating to an inmate who later died in the jail, has been indicted by a Trumbull County grand jury.

Palumbo, 39, of Russell Avenue, Niles, will be arraigned at 11 a.m. Thursday before Judge Andrew Logan of Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on charges of tampering with records and perjury.

The charges each carry a possible penalty of up to five years in jail.

Palumbo’s indictment alleges he tampered with records April 27. That corresponds with the date that sheriff’s officials said he altered a document he filled out on Adam N. Border, 24, of Vienna, on the day Palumbo booked him into jail.

According to a letter from Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins and Sheriff Thomas Altiere, jail officials discovered last month that Palumbo altered the booking information he recorded Jan. 12, 2008, to indicate that Border was under the influence of drugs the day he was booked into jail.

Originally, Palumbo indicated that Border was not under the influence of drugs that day, the letter says.

The indictment also accuses Palumbo of perjury June 2 for making a false statement under oath or swearing or affirming a false statement previously made.

The indictment does not specify under what circumstances the perjury was committed.

Chris Becker, the assistant county prosecutor handling the case, could not be reached to comment.

Border was found dead on a cot in the day room of the jail at 5:37 a.m. Jan. 13, 2008 — the morning after he entered the jail, according to Vindicator files. A coroner’s investigation later determined that Border died from an accidental drug overdose.

Border’s family later filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the county, alleging that corrections officers and medical personnel failed to take the proper steps to treat Border’s overdose, saying that arresting officers were told Border had taken a large amount of prescription drugs and that Border showed signs of being under the influence in the hours after he came to the jail.