AN OAKHILL PRIMER

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

YOUNGSTOWN

On his first day as Mahoning County commissioner, John A. McNally met with Anthony Cafaro Sr. to discuss the possible relocation of a county department housed in a Cafaro Co.-owned building.

That Jan. 3, 2005, meeting is considered by prosecutors to be the start of a criminal conspiracy to stop or impede the relocation of the county’s Department of Job and Family Services

from Garland Plaza, owned by the Cafaro Co., to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.

At that initial meeting, McNally agreed to keep the businessman advised of what was happening with JFS, based on Cafaro’s handwritten notes that were turned over to prosecutors as evidence.

After that meeting, prosecutors contend the two discussed the JFS issue numerous times over the next few years.

Prosecutors also allege other public officials, Cafaro’s brother and sister, and attorneys conspired to break the law to stop the JFS relocation.

That includes, prosecutors contend, lying under oath about the extent of their involvement, accepting or giving bribes, and illegally funding the campaign of a county prosecutor candidate to make an investigation against them go away.

The indictment calls McNally, a Democrat, the “organizer and leader of the public officials.” McNally has said, “Descriptions like that, to me, are comical.”

The Ohio Attorney General’s office and the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s office unsealed an indictment May 14, 2014, charging McNally, Youngstown’s mayor, but in his capacity as a county commissioner; outgoing county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino; and attorney Martin Yavorcik, a failed 2008 independent candidate for county prosecutor, on 83 criminal counts. The charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, bribery, perjury, conspiracy, money laundering and tampering with records.

The three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

That indictment, a bill of particulars filed June 12, 2014 and a notice of intent to use evidence filed Jan. 8 all provide an outline for what prosecutors will use against the three defendants if the case goes to trial and paint a more complete picture of the alleged criminal enterprise.

But the case details and the reporting of it over the past eight months have been released in increments.

What follows is a narrative composed from those documents and Vindicator reporting arranged chronologically to provide a primer of the case called “Oakhill.”

July 14, 2005: The earliest document involving John Zachariah, the former JFS director who prosecutors said played a key role in the conspiracy, surfaces in a letter he sent to McNally about a possible relocation of the agency.

Aug. 29, 2005: Zachariah tells county commissioners he didn’t want JFS to leave Garland; he also met with and emailed Cafaro numerous times.

Prosecutors contend Zachariah committed various illegal activities but can’t prosecute him because the statute of limitations on charging him expired before the May 15, 2014, indictment. Others named as participating in the criminal enterprise include former county Treasurer John Reardon; former county Democratic Party Chairwoman Lisa Antonini, who succeeded Reardon as treasurer; Cafaro’s brother, J.J.; his sister, Flora; and attorneys with Ulmer & Berne in Cleveland.

Nov. 7, 2005: While Sciortino knew Cafaro, prosecutors contend their first interaction about the possible JFS move likely occurred in a letter the businessman sent that day, about two months after Sciortino was appointed auditor by the county Democratic Party.

The letter references a meeting between the two, but details of that discussion — prosecutors contend Cafaro took notes during meetings and collected more than 200 of them as evidence — haven’t been provided by the businessman, his company or Ulmer & Berne, his attorneys. That letter came a day after Sciortino wrote Cafaro asking him for a campaign contribution.

Nov. 29, 2005: Sciortino thanks Cafaro for a $500 contribution with a handwritten note thanking him for his “help and support — it truly means a lot to me and I won’t forget it!”

May 25, 2006: Over McNally’s objections, the two other county commissioners vote to make an offer to buy Oakhill.

July 13, 2006: McNally meets with Cafaro as well as Craig Miller and Joe Castrodale, two of Cafaro’s lawyers at Ulmer & Berne, according to handwritten notes provided by the businessman. Under oath on May 16, 2007, McNally said in a deposition regarding a lawsuit filed by Ohio Valley Mall, a Cafaro Co. subsidiary, objecting to the county’s purchase of Oakhill, that he never met with Cafaro or any of his associates about the bankruptcy of the agency that owned that property.

July 13, 2006: Sciortino meets with Cafaro to discuss not writing the $75,000 check to buy Oakhill, according to the latter’s handwritten notes. The Cafaro notes read: “I will ask [Sciortino] refuse to certify in the future. He says he is against the project and will if reasons are provided to him.”

Under oath on May 22, 2007, Sciortino says in a deposition in the Ohio Valley Mall case that he didn’t meet with Cafaro before refusing to write the check.

July 14, 2006: The confidential offer to buy Oakhill is given to McNally; he faxes it four days later to Miller.

Under oath on May 16, 2007, McNally testifies he never gave or forwarded a copy of the confidential offer to anyone. However, Ulmer & Berne provided to prosecutors the faxed copy sent to the firm by McNally.

July 19, 2006: Cafaro and McNally discuss a challenge to the Oakhill purchase and McNally’s need for an attorney.

That same day, Miller emailed Castrodale as well as Richard Hardy and Isaac Eddington, also with Ulmer & Berne, to inform them that McNally had called him to say that he and Sciortino “are struggling with the issue of whether, as an ethical matter” they should have their legal fees paid by Cafaro. Reardon has the same issue. Miller followed up later that day with an email to Hardy and Castrodale writing an answer was still needed “how to deal with the legal fees.”

July 24, 2006: McNally, Sciortino and Reardon meet with county Prosecutor Paul J. Gains to discuss their intent to file an objection to the Oakhill purchase and ask for the appointment of outside legal counsel. The three retained the services of Taft Stettinius & Hollister law firm, and a day later, file an application for legal counsel with Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.

July 27, 2006: Federal bankruptcy court judge rules the three lack standing, and approves the sale to the county. On the same day, county commissioners direct Sciortino to pay the $75,000 purchase price for Oakhill. Sciortino refuses to do so.

July 28, 2006: The deed to Oakhill is given to the county.

Aug. 7, 2006: In an effort to stop the sale, Cafaro files a taxpayer’s lawsuit.

McNally testifies in the taxpayer’s lawsuit on May 16, 2007, that he didn’t know Cafaro would file the legal action beforehand. But the bill of particulars said there are notes from a Taft attorney about a July 21, 2006, telephone conversation he had with two lawyers from Ulmer & Berne, which references discussions with McNally and Sciortino about the lawsuit being filed next week.

Sept. 12, 2006: U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kay Woods rules McNally, Sciortino and Reardon lack standing to challenge the county’s purchase of Oakhill. Because of that ruling, Maureen A. Sweeney, Mahoning County Common Pleas Court’s presiding judge, on that same day rejecta a motion by the trio to retain outside legal counsel at the county’s expense.

In the end, the Cafaro Co. paid $876,140 to Ulmer & Berne with “most of the services Ulmer performed for McNally, Sciortino and/or Reardon,” according to the notice of intent to use evidence. Prosecutors contend Cafaro’s payment of the legal bills were bribes. Also, McNally, Sciortino and Reardon didn’t include the legal services on ethics forms required by the state from elected officials.

July 26, 2007: Cafaro/Ohio Valley Mall lawsuit fails. Sciortino is forced to write the $75,000 check.

Meanwhile, in late 2007 or early 2008, Antonini, McNally, Sciortino, Cafaro and others become aware of an investigation into potential criminal or ethical wrongdoing by any or all of them related to their efforts to stop the JFS relocation to Oakhill, according to the notice of intent to use evidence.

Feb. 22, 2008: Yavorcik, a close friend of Antonini, obtains petitions to run as an independent against Prosecutor Paul J. Gains, the incumbent Democrat.

March 1, 2008: Yavorcik tells a confidential informant that he promised “the group” that once elected he wouldn’t prosecute them for “any wrongdoing they may have committed between January of 2005 and August 2007,” when the Cafaro taxpayer lawsuit was dismissed.

March 20, 2008: Flora Cafaro gives $15,000 to Yavorcik to conduct a poll on his chance of beating Gains. In a recent court filing, Yavorcik’s attorney, Mark Lavelle, wrote the money was a retainer from the Cafaro Co. to his client to provide legal services if the Oakhill matter was investigated.

Prosecutors call it a bribe, and that Yavorcik falsely claimed on campaign finance reports that the $15,000 came from him.

He also failed to claim the money on his 2008 income tax returns. Lavelle confirmed that in the recent filing, adding that Yavorcik later amended the returns and “corrected the error.”

September 2008: Antonini, Reardon and Sciortino loan money to Yavorcik’s campaign that prosecutors say were bribes. Yavorcik falsely reported the money as loans on numerous campaign finance reports from 2008 to 2015, according to the indictment and the bill of particulars.

Nov. 4, 2008: Gains beats Yavorcik by 38 percentage points in the general election.

OAKHILL OVERLOAD?

Confused about the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-conspiracy case? Think the purchase of the old Forum Health Southside Medical Center was a bad idea?

It’s good to keep in mind what this case is about and what it is not about.

• This case isn’t about whether it was a good decision by Mahoning County to buy Oakhill and move its Department of Job and Family Services there or for those accused of being part of the enterprise to talk about it.

• The bill of particulars states: “The fact a person met with another to discuss the move of Mahoning County JFS is not an offense. What is alleged to be an offense, however, is lying about such meeting[s] under oath as well as the commission of other offenses.”

• There are numerous charges of perjury against Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, in his previous capacity as a county commissioner, and county

Auditor Michael V. Sciortino as well as accusations of providing false testimony

against ex-JFS Director John Zachariah and former businessman Anthony Cafaro Sr.

• Prosecutors contend the four lied when asked about certain meetings and conversations related to JFS’s move from Cafaro-Co.-owned Garland Plaza on the East Side to Oakhill.

For a rundown of the charges and the players involved, see today's Vindicator or our digital edition.