James Tsagaris Bio

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Former Trumbull County Commissioner James Tsagaris

1998: Unseats 16-year incumbent Arthur U. Magee in the May Democratic primary for county commissioner. Defeats independent Dick Thompson in the general election.

2002: Re-elected commissioner.

2003: Ohio Elections Commission fines Tsagaris $150 in December for failing to keep records of people who donated less than $25 at fundraisers in 2001 and 2002.

June 2004: Ohio Elections Commission fines him $400 for receiving corporate campaign contributions in 2002, a violation of Ohio election laws.

2006: Declines to run for re-election to a third term as commissioner and retires.

June 2009: Pleads guilty to two counts of “honest-services mail fraud” for failing to report a $36,551 loan he accepted from a local businessman in late 2004 while serving as a commissioner and voting on matters that directly affected the businessman.

August 2009: Tsagaris, 75, receives a sentence of one year of electronically monitored house arrest, three years’ probation and a $4,000 fine.

December 2009: Violates terms of his probation. Reports to Northeast Ohio Correctional Center in Youngstown to begin serving a nine-month prison sentence.

Source: Vindicator files