Special prosecutor appointed in Trumbull Co. probe

WARREN — David P. Joyce, Geauga County prosecutor, will be sworn in Wednesday as special prosecutor handling the investigation into allegations that two top employees of the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department stole money from a charity they ran and conducted illegal fund-raising.

After allegations involving former Detective Sgt. Peter Pizzulo and Sgt. Tony Leshnack surfaced last June, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation began an investigation at the request of Sheriff Thomas Altiere.

But in July, Dennis Sweet, a BCI special agent, contacted County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins to ask for further assistance, and Watkins suggested Joyce, in part because some of the allegations involve Geauga County, according to a document Watkins filed with the common pleas court.

Joyce has been working on the case since then, and on April 28 he requested that he be appointed special prosecutor “in order to complete his work,” Watkins said in the filing.

For the complete story, see Wednesday’s Vindicator and Vindy.com