Theft defendant makes motion for treatment

By Peter H. Milliken | January 6, 2011 at 12:04a.m.

Mark Daigle

YOUNGSTOWN

The former general manager of the Covelli Centre’s food and drink vendor is seeking drug-abuse treatment instead of conviction in the theft of about $30,000 police said was embezzled from the vendor.

Mark Daigle, 38, of Steeplechase Drive, Canfield, made his motion for treatment Wednesday through his court-appointed lawyer, Mark A. Carfolo, but Judge Lou A. D’Apolito of Mahoning County Common Pleas Court has not yet ruled on the motion.

“The defendant was drug-dependent at the time of committing the offense at bar. He is still drug-dependent, and, if he does not receive treatment, he is in jeopardy of committing other crimes,” Carfolo wrote in the motion.

If the motion is granted, Daigle would plead guilty to the fourth-degree felony theft charge, and the charge would be dismissed if he successfully completes treatment.

Treatment in lieu of conviction is only available to people charged with fourth- or fifth-degree felonies who have no prior felony convictions.

Indicted on the same theft charge was Kathy Lewis, 40, of Karl Street, the vendor’s former office manager.

Daigle and Lewis are charged with stealing between $5,000 and $100,000 from the vendor, Centerplate Inc., between Dec. 7, 2007, and Jan. 26, 2010, and they could get six-to-18-month prison terms if they’re convicted.

Police are investigating whether a Jan. 26, 2010, robbery at the Covelli Centre was staged to cover up the embezzlement.

Lewis was the supposed victim of the robbery, in which about $90,000 was taken from the food vendor at the city-owned arena.

Daigle and Lewis, who have pleaded innocent to the theft charge, have a pretrial hearing set for 10 a.m. Jan. 21, with their jury trial tentatively set to begin Feb. 7 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

Lewis has retained Atty. Tyresha Brown-O’Neal to represent her.