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Gerberry going from state rep to convicted criminal today
YOUNGSTOWN
Gerberry Indictment
Document
Waiver of Indictment in the case of the State of Ohio vs. Ronald Gerberry, outlining the charge of Unlawful Compensation of a Public Official.
Ronald V. Gerberry today will exchange one title, Ohio House representative, for another: convicted criminal.
Gerberry, the most-senior member of the House after serving 27 years, two weeks ago turned in his resignation letter, effective today.
The Austintown Democrat also signed a waiver of indictment Wednesday, agreeing to be found guilty of a misdemeanor count of unlawful compensation of a public official in a bill of information.
Gerberry will appear at 10:30 a.m. today in front of Judge Maureen A. Sweeney of common pleas court to be found guilty and sentenced, Gains confirmed Thursday. He declined to comment further.
The bill of information, filed by Mahoning County Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, states that from October 2008 to October 2010, Gerberry, “being a public servant, did knowingly solicit or accept compensation, other than allowed by” state law “to perform the public servant’s official duties or to perform any other act or service [in] the public servant’s public capacity for the general performance of the duties of his public office” or “as a supplement to his public compensation.” A state representative’s base annual salary is $60,584.
Gerberry and Ron Yarwood, his attorney, could not be reached Thursday by The Vindicator to comment. Gerberry has not returned repeated telephone calls and text messages from the newspaper since The Vindicator exclusively reported Aug. 11 that he would plead guilty to the misdemeanor and resign.
Gerberry is “cooperating with prosecutors, which is the reason for the plea agreement,” Gains said after the initial article on Gerberry was published.
Gerberry, 62, is expected to be sentenced to probation, sources close to the investigation say.
Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O’Brien, who said his office assisted with this case, and Dan Kasaris, a senior assistant attorney general who is the lead prosecutor on cases involving political corruption in Mahoning County, are expected to be at Gerberry’s court appearance.
Though prosecutors won’t discuss the case, sources previously told the newspaper that Gerberry overpaid vendors to make it appear as though he spent campaign money and then had much of it returned to him later as a refund.
Gerberry did this with several vendors, one source said. In his campaign-finance reports, The Vindicator found examples of money being refunded to Gerberry.
By appearing not to have much cash in his campaign fund, the sources said, Gerberry would pay less money to the Ohio House Democratic Caucus. The caucus uses the money to help fund Democratic candidates in state House races, particularly in competitive ones.
Gerberry had 27 years in the Ohio House over two stints and has been an elected official since 1973. He was elected that year to the Austintown school board at age 19. He served in the House from 1982 to 2000, leaving because of the state’s law on term limits. In 2000, Gerberry was elected Mahoning County recorder. He left that job in 2007 for the state House.
Gerberry is named in documents regarding the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case. That indictment accuses Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, ex-county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino – both Democrats – and Martin Yavorcik, who lost the 2008 county prosecutor’s race as an independent candidate, with conspiring with others to illegally impede or stop the move of the county Department of Job and Family Services from the Cafaro Co.-owned Garland Plaza to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center that is owned by the county.
The three have pleaded not guilty to a total of 83 counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, perjury, money laundering and tampering with evidence.
Gerberry was secretly recorded by a confidential witness, according to Oakhill documents. Also, an evidence list on those Oakhill documents include Gerberry’s campaign-finance reports for 2008 to 2010 and a spreadsheet of his campaign contributions and expenditures for those years compiled by an FBI agent.
Sources say Gerberry will testify on behalf of prosecutors in that case, set for trial March 1, 2016.
The Ohio House Democratic Caucus will decide who succeeds Gerberry. Its members were waiting to convene a screening committee until after Gerberry’s resignation took effect.
Among the early leading candidates are Mahoning County Commissioner Anthony Traficanti and John Boccieri, a former U.S. House member, state representative and state senator.