Lawyer: J.J. Cafaro to plead guilty

Staff report

AKRON

John J. Cafaro, the recently retired vice president of the Cafaro Co., will be arraigned here at 10 a.m. March 17 before U.S. District Judge John R. Adams on a charge of falsifying campaign contribution information.

Cafaro’s lawyer, Ralph E. Cascarilla of Cleveland, said Cafaro, 58, of Hubbard, intends to plead guilty to making a materially false statement concerning a contribution to the unsuccessful 2004 congressional campaign of his daughter, Capri Cafaro.

The elder Cafaro caused an official of his daughter’s congressional campaign to falsely report he had given only $2,000 to her campaign, when, in fact, he gave an additional $10,000 in the form of a loan to an unidentified campaign staff member for the campaign’s benefit, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The legal limit for campaign gifts by individuals was $2,000.

The false filing was contained in a quarterly report to the Federal Election Commission, the U.S. Attorney said.

Capri Cafaro, of Liberty, D-32nd, is now an Ohio state senator and Senate minority leader.

This is John J. Cafaro’s second brush with federal authorities. In November 2002, U.S. District Judge Solomon Oliver Jr. sentenced him to 15 months’ probation and fined him $150,000 after he pleaded guilty to conspiring to provide an unlawful gratuity to former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr.

Traficant was expelled from Congress in 2002, served seven years in federal prison and was released last September.