Couple indicted in embezzlement

By ELISE FRANCO

efranco@vindy.com

Austintown

Photo

Scott Adair

Photo

Linda Adair

A Canfield Township man and his wife accused of embezzling money from a former employer are under indictment by a Mahoning County grand jury.

Scott Adair, 50, turned himself in Tuesday at the Mahoning County jail, where he was held in lieu of $50,000 bond. His wife, Linda Adair, 52, was booked Monday and released on $100,000 bond, said Austintown Detective Kathy Dina.

The indictment covers March 1, 2004, to Oct. 31, 2007, according to a news release from Assistant County Prosecutor Kenneth J. Cardinal. “The monies stolen were used to enrich the lives of Scott and Linda Adair to sustain a lifestyle that they had been accustomed to,” he said in a prepared statement.

They were both arraigned Tuesday in common pleas court.

The couple was indicted Feb. 25 after a yearlong Austintown Police Department investigation into the embezzlement of nearly $1 million from Scott Adair’s former employer, Southwind Transportation Inc., Mahoning Avenue, Austintown.

Scott Adair is charged with 11 counts of aggravated grand theft, money laundering, telecommunication fraud, tampering with records and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity with a specification of forfeiture of their home, contents, bank accounts, investment accounts and other specified property, according to the news release.

Linda Adair is charged with four counts of complicity to grand theft, complicity to money laundering and complicity to engage in a pattern of corrupt activity with a specification of forfeiture of their home and certain assets that were acquired or maintained with the proceeds of stolen corporate funds, the release states.

Both could face anywhere from six months to 10 years in jail on each count of the indictment, if convicted.

The couple’s home, 5305 Revere Road in Canfield Township, was seized June 12, 2009, as a part of the investigation.

Dina said previously that police believed the couple may have used corporate funds to purchase the house and some of its possessions.

The family was allowed to re-enter the home June 26, 2009.

Scott Adair’s former business partner, Ric Barringer, filed a lawsuit against him in March 2009 alleging misappropriation of corporate assets to personal use, breach of contract, fraud and negligence.

Adair was fired from Southwind in October 2007. Barringer was not available Tuesday to comment.

“As a direct result of the theft of approximately $857,000, the transportation company was forced to lay off more than 15 long-term employees,” according to Cardinal’s statement.