Trumbull Co. case gets special prosecutor

By Ed Runyan

The purchasing probe was the last case handled by a special prosecutor for Trumbull County.

WARREN — David P. Joyce, Geauga County prosecutor, will be sworn in today 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 fundraising.

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, BCI Special Agent Dennis Sweet contacted Trumbull 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 he requested April 28 that he be appointed special prosecutor “in order to complete his work,” Watkins said in the filing.

Joyce will work at no cost to the county, except for expenses such as travel, lodging, meals, expert witnesses or other fees incurred during the investigation.

After Joyce takes the oath of office before Judge Peter Kontos in common pleas court, he will have the authority to conduct all aspects of any criminal prosecution against Pizzulo and Leshnack, Watkins said.

Joyce has been Geauga County prosecutor for 21 years.

Pizzulo and Leshnack resigned their positions with the sheriff’s department in October after Altiere recommended that they be fired. Their resignations were effective Nov. 3.

Pizzulo was the lead detective on several high-profile investigations in recent years, such as the investigation into the murders of two women in Newton Township by Jermaine McKinney.

Leshnack was chief of the sheriff’s civil division, which serves documents such as subpoenas and criminal paperwork.

Sheriff’s officials have said Altiere received complaints about the activities of Pizzulo and Leshnack in regard to the Ohio Narcotics Officer Association, which the men founded in 2004 to solicit money for charitable organizations, especially those that educate the public and distribute information on the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse.

The men were president and vice president of the organization, respectively.

Altiere recommended that Pizzulo and Leshnack be fired for converting donations collected in the name of the organization to their personal use, Altiere said.

The last time Trumbull County had a special prosecutor was when Victor Vigluicci, Portage County prosecutor, looked into whether any Trumbull officials played any role in the theft of $400,000 in overpriced janitorial goods between 1999 and 2002.

In 2006, Vigluicci said he did not find sufficient credible evidence of any such activities and didn’t charge anyone.

Prosecutions against Tony Delmont, the county’s former purchasing director, and various contractors who sold the goods through Delmont were handled by the Trumbull prosecutor’s office, resulting in prison sentences for several figures, including Delmont.

runyan@vindy.com