Former Niles income-tax investigator gets 6 months in prison

Staff report

WARREN

A Trumbull County judge sentenced Heidi Powell to six months in prison Wednesday for stealing $731 from her former job as income-tax investigator with the city of Niles.

Powell, 34, of West Park Avenue, asked Judge W. Wyatt McKay of common pleas court for probation, but the judge said she used up her second chance when she appeared before another county judge in April 2014.

Judge Ronald Rice had ordered Powell in April 2014 to make restitution of $1,307 and serve two years’ probation after she was convicted of stealing from her job at the AT&T store on Elm Road Northeast in Bazetta.

She was hired to work for Niles a short time later.

Judge McKay replied to Powell’s request for no jail Wednesday with the statement that the first time someone proves themselves untrustworthy, “Shame on you.” But for him to grant her probation for a second theft would be “Shame on me.”

Powell resigned from the Niles job and wrote an apology to Mayor Ralph Infante thanking him for “giving me a second chance when no one else would have.”

Infante said the blame for Powell getting hired despite having been fired by AT&T rested with city Treasurer Robert Swauger, who was her supervisor and was responsible for having a background check done on her.

Powell’s thefts in Niles came to light after a customer raised questions about a $50 payment she made but which was not reflected in her account.

Niles police investigated and determined Powell had accepted payments 11 times in which she issued a receipt but then deleted the payment from the computer database and kept the money.

Powell pleaded guilty in May to one count of theft in office, a felony.