Judge lifts freeze on Mahoning County woman's accounts

YOUNGSTOWN — A visiting probate judge has lifted the freeze on several bank accounts and an individual retirement account of a woman who stole money from an elderly businessman.

Judge Denny Clunk of Mahoning County Probate Court took the action today in the case of Carol Spano, whose accounts were under a law-enforcement freeze while the criminal case against her was pending.

In the criminal matter, Spano, 50, of Pinecrest Road, Girard, was sentenced to five years’ probation last week by Judge R. Scott Krichbaum of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court after she pleaded no contest to a felony-level theft charge and made $15,000 in restitution to the Boardman businessman’s estate.

That amount was in addition to $44,000 in restitution she had made earlier.

Spano stole by transferring money from the bank accounts of Fred Hightower to hers between Aug. 1, 2005, and May 5, 2009, while she worked at the Hightower insurance agency, said J. Michael Thompson, an assistant county prosecutor.

Hightower died Dec. 3, 2008.

For the complete story, read Tuesday's Vindicator and Vindy.com