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Grand jury to decide Covelli theft indictments
By DAVID SKOLNICK
YOUNGSTOWN
Two former local officials with the Covelli Centre’s food and drink vendor waived their rights to preliminary court hearings, and a Mahoning County grand jury will decide whether to indict them on felony-theft charges.
The two were charged with one count each of theft, accusing them of embezzling about $30,000 from Centerplate, the center’s food and drink vendor.
Kathy Lewis, 40, of Karl Street in Youngstown, the company’s former office manager at the center, pleaded innocent Wednesday at an arraignment in Youngstown Municipal Court and was released without having to post a bond.
Mark P. Daigle, 38, of Steeplechase Drive in Canfield, the company’s former local general manager, appeared in court Wednesday and declined to have a preliminary hearing. He remains free on $10,000 bond.
Police say the two embezzled money from the food and drink vendor from Dec. 7, 2007, until March 18, 2010.
Lewis was the supposed victim in a Jan. 26 robbery in which about $90,000 was stolen from the company at the arena.
Police haven’t charged Lewis or Daigle with that incident but are investigating to determine if the robbery were staged to cover up the embezzlement.
Information about the embezzlement was found when officers investigated the robbery, police said.
Centerplate was notified of the embezzlement and conducted an audit. After the audit was done, Centerplate officials filed theft charges against Daigle and Lewis.
Centerplate — the vendor at the center was Boston Culinary until Centerplate purchased it in January — also fired Lewis and Daigle.
Eric Ryan, the center’s executive director, said he told Daigle in September 2009 that the arena’s management company was concerned about Boston Culinary’s financial records and intended to hire an auditing firm to check those figures.
“It made him nervous,” Ryan said. “I didn’t get a response, but that told me something” was wrong.
Bob Pascal, Centerplate’s corporate vice president of marketing and sales, said in a voice mail to The Vindicator that the company wouldn’t have “a general statement” about the investigation.