Ex-Mahoning County auditor is scheduled to be arraigned June 16 on 25 felonies

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Former Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino is scheduled to be arraigned June 16 on 25 felony charges related to his purported illegal use of government-owned computers and software for his political campaigns and for his private law practice.

An entry on Mahoning County’s court docket website shows Sciortino is to be arraigned by the grand jury judge at 9 a.m. June 16.

The common pleas court’s grand jury judge is Maureen Sweeney. It isn’t known if she’ll handle the arraignment, have magistrate Dennis Sarisky do it or have it done by a visiting judge. The other possibilities are Sciortino could submit a written waiver of his arraignment or have his attorney, John Juhasz, handle the arraignment without him present.

Attempts Thursday and Friday by The Vindicator to reach Juhasz were unsuccessful.

A grand jury indicted Sciortino, a 44-year-old Democrat from Austintown, Thursday on 21 counts of unauthorized use of property – computer or telecommunications – and four counts of theft in office. The indictment alleges Sciortino’s criminal conduct started Oct. 6, 2005, three weeks after he became auditor, and ended Aug. 29, 2012.

The indictment is on top of 22 criminal counts he faces in a separate matter for his purported involvement in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.