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Bookings set today for Oakhill indictees
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Six of the seven defendants charged in the Mahoning County corruption indictment are to report today to the county jail to be fingerprinted and pose for criminal mug shots.
At a Tuesday arraignment, Judge Maureen Sweeney of common pleas court ordered the six to report to the jail to be booked.
None of the defendants appeared at Tuesday’s arraignment.
Attorneys for six of the seven defendants as well as the Cafaro Co. and two of its subsidiaries, which were named in the indictment, submitted documents Monday to Judge Sweeney that included pleas of not guilty.
That allowed them to skip Tuesday’s arraignment.
None of them was required to post bond to remain out of jail.
At Tuesday’s court proceeding, a representative from the court administrator’s office randomly picked Judge Lou A. D’Apolito as the common pleas court judge to oversee the 73-count corruption case.
But he and the court’s four other criminal common pleas judges have recused themselves from hearing the case.
The judges were to sign a judgment entry today asking the Ohio Supreme Court to assign a visiting judge to oversee the case, said Robert Regula, court administrator.
Two judges — R. Scott Krichbaum and James Evans — were handling cases Tuesday and were unable to sign the entry, Regula said.
The first pretrial hearing for the defendants is set for 1:30 p.m. Friday with an Oct. 25 trial date.
The pretrial hearing won’t happen because of the recusals, Regula said.
The indictment accuses the defendants of illegally allowing private interests to unsuccessfully block and postpone the county’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place.
Those charged are: county Commissioner John A. McNally IV; county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino; Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., the recently retired president of the Cafaro Co.; Flora Cafaro, part owner of the Cafaro Co.; ex-county Treasurer John Reardon; Atty. Martin Yavorcik; and John Zachariah, former county Job and Family Services director.
Also charged are the Cafaro Co. and two of its subsidiaries: the Ohio Valley Mall and the Marion Plaza.
Zachariah is out of the country until the end of the month, and he’ll be arraigned upon his return, said David Muhek, a Lorain County assistant prosecutor serving as a special prosecutor on the Oakhill case.
Muhek refused to comment to the media about the case after Tuesday’s arraignment.
The charges filed against the defendants are engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, perjury, bribery, money laundering, tampering with records, conflict of interest, tampering with records, disclosure of confidential information, filing false financial disclosure statements, and soliciting or accepting improper compensation.
The indictment charges Cafaro Sr. and his business entities of conspiring with McNally, Sciortino, Reardon and Zachariah to prevent or delay the relocation of the JFS office at the Garland Plaza.
The office was relocated in 2007 to Oakhill.
The indictment accuses McNally, Sciortino, Reardon and Zachariah of taking bribes from the Cafaro Co. and/or its subsidiaries, and the first three are also charged with conflict of interest.