Judge: Cafaro to stay in jail

By PETER H. MILLIKEN

milliken@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

Former shopping mall executive John J. Cafaro will remain in jail for the duration of the weekend, pending an 11:30 a.m. Monday detention hearing in federal court in Akron, a federal judge has ruled.

Cafaro was transferred Thursday afternoon from Summit County jail to the Corrections Corp. of America’s Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road in Youngstown, said David Kasulones, supervisory deputy U.S. marshal.

Kasulones said Cafaro, 58, of Hubbard, was moved because it’s cheaper for the federal government to house prisoners at NOCC than in the Summit jail.

The U.S. Marshals Service pays $101.66 per prisoner per day at the jail and $76.90 at NOCC, Kasulones said.

Saying all necessary Cafaro financial records have now been provided to the federal court’s pretrial services department, Cafaro’s lawyers asked Thursday for an expedited detention hearing to be Friday, but U.S. District Judge John R. Adams denied that request Friday afternoon.

Judge Adams detained Cafaro at his Wednesday arraignment, saying Cafaro refused to provide the financial information necessary for his bond to be properly set.

Cafaro will be sentenced 10 a.m. June 8.

Cafaro, who retired as vice president of the Cafaro Co. at the end of 2009, pleaded guilty Wednesday to making a false statement concerning a contribution he made to his daughter, Capri Cafaro’s, unsuccessful 2004 congressional campaign. Capri Cafaro of Liberty, D-32nd, is a state senator and Senate minority leader.

The elder Cafaro caused an official of his daughter’s congressional campaign to falsely report that 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 a campaign staff member for the campaign’s benefit, the U.S. attorney said.

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