Taped conversations shed new light on Oakhill corruption probe
CLEVELAND
State's Response to Defendants' Request for Discovery
State of Ohio vs. john McNally in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas, Criminal Division, Case No. CR-585428. State's Response to Defendants' Request for Discovery.
Prosecutors in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal corruption case contend Martin Yavorcik, one of the defendants, discussed concealing contributions from Anthony Cafaro Sr. to his failed 2008 Mahoning County prosecutor bid.
Yavorcik also reportedly bragged about his relationship with a judge, and that a disbarred attorney he worked with could successfully settle any personal- injury case.
Prosecutors made public Friday transcripts of taped conversations Yavorcik had with a confidential informant, who comes across as a confidante of the defendant, and of calls between Yavorcik and the informant taped between March 1, 2008, and Feb. 5, 2011.
The 34-page document — signed by Daniel Kasaris, a senior assistant Ohio attorney general and the case’s lead prosecutor — also includes transcripts of conversations of county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, another defendant in the case, between Feb. 7, 2007, and May 13, 2010.
In those conversations, Sciortino, a Democrat, expresses concern about being indicted, saying on May 13, 2010, that prosecutors “want the Big C [meaning “Businessman 1” or Anthony Cafaro Sr.]. ... We are all collateral damage I think.”
Prosecutors charged Yavorcik, Sciortino and Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally in his previous capacity as a county commissioner with 83 counts including engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, conspiracy, bribery, perjury, money laundering and tampering with evidence.
The three have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Prosecutors said the three, along with numerous others, conspired 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, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center.
Several of those in the alleged criminal enterprise are accused of illegally funding Yavorcik’s 2008 county prosecutor race, in which he ran as an independent, with the intention of him stopping the criminal investigation into Oakhill if he were elected.
He lost the race by 38 percentage points to incumbent Paul J. Gains, a Democrat.
There are no recordings of McNally, a Democrat.
There are some of Sciortino, but it is Yavorcik who dominates the transcripts released Friday. The transcripts were made from tapes that were initially in the possession of the FBI, which turned them over to state prosecutors.
In a March 1, 2008, conversation with the confidential source, Yavorcik said he was working with county Republicans to form a 527 political organization that could raise large amounts of money without having to disclose who contributed.
Yavorcik wanted to have it not only get money from Republicans, but from Cafaro “so it doesn’t look like I have any association with” him. He later asks the informant if taking money from Cafaro as well as the businessman’s brother, J.J., and sister, Flora, “in this election is going to hurt me or not.”
The Cafaros are identified in Friday’s filing as Businessman 1 and 2 and Businesswoman 2, but were named in a Jan. 8 notice of intent to use evidence filed by prosecutors.
The 527 organization was never created.
In Friday’s filing, Yavorcik said that he met for two hours with John Doe 7 — likely then-county GOP Chairman Clarence Smith, one of the area’s major political donors — and John Doe 7 “doesn’t care to meet” again.
Mark Munroe, who succeeded Smith and was vice chairman at the time, said Friday he talked to Yavorcik about the prosecutor’s race. Munroe, who is likely John Doe 8 in the filing, said talk of creating a 527 organization may have been discussed, but he “can’t recall specifically.”
In the end, the three Cafaros gave $40,000 each to Yavorcik’s campaign and it was reported on his campaign finance report. At the time, Gains had received permission from common pleas judges to appoint special prosecutors to investigate possible ethics violations by county officials who objected to the Oakhill purchase.
Later on March 1, 2008, Yavorcik said, “I am close” with Anthony Cafaro Sr., and that John Doe 6 — who based on previous documents is Richard Goldberg, a disbarred attorney and close friend of Cafaro’s who worked on Yavorcik’s campaign — was also talking to Cafaro on his behalf.
On March 28, 2008, Yavorcik told the confidential informant that Goldberg was his “secret weapon for personal injury cases” and “he can get money out of insurance” companies. He told the informant a story about Goldberg’s settling a case involving a legally blind client with no driver’s license for $19,000.
On Oct. 9, 2008, Yavorcik tells an unidentified client, called John Doe 5, who believed he violated his parole, that as his attorney he would take care of it. The judge in the case, described as a male Youngstown Municipal Court judge in the document, is called “the key” to the case by Yavorcik, who added: “I mean that is my boy.”
There were only two male Youngstown Municipal Court judges at the time — Robert Douglas Jr. and Robert Milich.
The recordings include discussions with Lisa Antonini, a former county Democratic chairwoman, county treasurer and Yavorcik’s close friend. Antonini pleaded guilty in November 2013 to a count of honest services mail fraud for failing to report a $3,000 cash gift from Anthony Cafaro Sr. on her Ohio Ethics Commission disclosure form. She is cooperating with prosecutors.
In a March 28, 2008, discussion taped by the informant, Antonini said the parties involved in the alleged conspiracy have good lawyers, and they have to “make sure we’re taking care of Marty Yavorcik through the whole thing.”
Later, she says that certain people are “trying to put me in jail.”
Yavorcik expressed concern about John Reardon, the former county treasurer who is cooperating with prosecutors, saying he is “the weak link,” adding, “He doesn’t have the stomach for this stuff.”
In a May 13, 2010, recording, Sciortino says of Reardon: He “just can’t really shut the [expletive] up. Even with his own attorney, he is … calling every day, ‘What do you hear?’”
On Nov. 3, 2008, the day before the election, Sciortino asks the informant, “When we get out of jail can we work for” an unidentified company? The name is blacked out on the document, but it is likely the Cafaro Co.
Sciortino then says, “What do you think I am doing, kidding? No fun. Tell me about it.”
In response, a person identified as State Rep. 1 — likely Ronald V. Gerberry (prosecutors obtained copies of his campaign finance reports) — says, “Going to grand jury, there is no doubt indictment is coming.”
Antonini said, “I agree,” and State Rep 1 said, “Prepare yourself.”