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YSU officials to testify in payroll case
PETER H. MILLIKEN
YOUNGSTOWN
More than 20 names, including those of key Youngstown State University officials, appear on the prosecution’s witness list for the YSU payroll scandal case.
Included on the list are Beth Ann Yeatts, a certified public accountant with the office of student accounts and university receivables; Elaine Ruse, director of financial aid and scholarships; Eileen Greaf, the university’s executive director of financial services; and Lt. Mike Cretella of the university police department.
Others on the list are Trooper Tom Halligan of the Ohio State Highway Patrol; John P. Donchess, a CPA with Packer-Thomas in Youngstown; Lisa Rodriguez, a benefit claims processor at the Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio; and Andy Barkley of the Associated School Employees Credit Union of Warren.
Facing criminal charges from a 24-count Mahoning County grand jury indictment are Ivan Maldonado, 42, of Euclid Boulevard, former president of the Association of Classified Employees at YSU and fired university payroll assistant; his nephew, Anthony J. Maldonado, 25, of Bev Road, Boardman; and Ron Granger, 45, of Shannon Road, Girard, administrative assistant and former manager in the university payroll department.
All defendants have pleaded innocent and are free on bond as they await trial.
There was a pretrial hearing Friday on the case before Judge James C. Evans of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
In the March 25 indictment, Ivan Maldonado faces 10 counts of theft, two counts each of falsification and theft in office and one count each of tampering with records and grand theft.
Anthony Maldonado is charged with two counts of falsification and one count each of grand theft and tampering with records.
Granger, who remains on paid administrative leave from his YSU job, is charged with tampering with records, falsification, theft and theft in office.
The prosecution alleges Maldonado and Granger manipulated payroll figures last year to reduce the amount of a garnishment against Granger from Girard Municipal Court from $500 to $121 per pay period.
Ivan Maldonado falsely claimed Anthony Maldonado was his son to allow Anthony to attend YSU and receive more than $30,000 worth of free tuition he wasn’t entitled to between 2003 and 2009, said Robert E. Bush Jr., assistant county prosecutor.
Most of the charges against Ivan Maldonado pertain to his alleged submission between 1998 and 2006 of false documents, which caused YSU to send checks to the PERS on behalf of 10 full-time university employees, which would have enabled them to receive retirement credit for their prior part-time YSU employment for which they’d waived retirement credit.
All 10 appear by name on the prosecution’s witness list, but none of them have been charged with any crime in this case.
YSU spokesman Ron Cole said the university informed PERS concerning this matter, and Cole said he believes “appropriate adjustments” have been made.
PERS spokeswoman Julie Graham-Price said benefits for all 10 have been adjusted to the correct level.
In addition to the witness list, the prosecution has supplied to the defense thousands of pages of documents, including financial records, which the prosecution intends to use as evidence.
Lou DeFabio, the lawyer for Anthony Maldonado, filed a motion for a separate trial for Anthony to avoid what DeFabio called “prejudicial joiner” of defendants, but Bush has filed a response saying the defendants should be tried together.
Most of the witnesses are YSU employees, and “separate trials would greatly inconvenience the witnesses and the institution,” Bush wrote.
“Anthony Maldonado and Ivan Maldonado committed this crime together; they were indicted together; and the state would utilize the same evidence against each individual,” Bush added.
Ivan Maldonado is represented by Atty. J. Gerald Ingram, and Granger is represented by Atty. Neal Atway.
None of the lawyers would comment on details of the case after the hearing. Judge Evans hasn’t ruled on whether there will be one trial for all defendants or separate trials, and no trial date has been set.