Belinky’s evil rivals Goldberg’s

When he admitted to a special agent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation that he had stolen money from people who could not care for themselves, former Mahoning County Probate Judge Mark Belinky joined an exclusive club of blood-sucking, morally deficient beings. (The omission of the word “human” is intentional.)

There’s a place reserved in hell for such individuals, but on earth, prison is an appropriate alternative. And yet, Belinky, who resigned last year after making a deal with prosecutors, has avoided time behind bars.

The deal resulted in the ex-judge pleading to a tampering with records charge and admitting to other criminal acts. He has agreed to turn state’s evidence in the ongoing investigation of government corruption in the Mahoning Valley.

The centerpiece of the investigation is the so-called Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-conspiracy case, which has a slew of participants. Former Mahoning County commissioner and now Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, former county Auditor Michael Sciortino and Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik are scheduled to go on trial in March. However, all eyes are on Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., the retired president of the Cafaro Co., who masterminded the conspiracy. Cafaro sought to prevent the county commissioners from buying Oakhill Renaissance Place and relocating the county’s Job and Family Services agency from its long-time location in the Garland Plaza, owned by the Cafaro Co.

Belinky presumably has information that prosecutors believe can help them build their case, but his avoiding prison time is a bitter pill to swallow. Why? Because he committed crimes against humanity when he was on the bench.

Admission

An affidavit filed by BCI Special Agent Ed Carlini states that Belinky “has admitted to stealing money from people that he was a Guardian over and further has admitted to altering Probate Court documents to further such theft and has further admitted to using a Mahoning County Probate Computer, to create false Probate Court records.”

There are rumblings that one of the individuals under Belinky’s care was a child with severe physical disabilities.

The former probate judge is deserving of the same punishment that was handed to Richard D. Goldberg of Youngstown, once a leading malpractice lawyer in the state of Ohio. In the late 1990s, Goldberg admitted to defrauding 23 clients out of $4.5 million and was sent to federal prison for 45 months.

Goldberg’s clients said they had suffered harm at the hands of their doctors or hospitals. Juries in the malpractice cases filed by Goldberg agreed that the plaintiffs had been harmed and awarded them damages.

Never did the 23 clients dream that their lawyer, who did such a masterful job of representing them, would turn around and virtually pick their pockets.

Now, we have another one-time prominent lawyer in the Mahoning Valley who used his position to do harm to those unable to take care of themselves.

But the fact that Belinky was permitted to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and has thus far avoided time behind bars is a travesty.

Is the information he is providing to prosecutors so crucial to the government corruption investigation that making a deal with him was absolutely essential?

Time will tell.