Saturday, December 31, 2016
Ex-MYCAP chief had been convicted in May 2015
YOUNGSTOWN
A three-judge panel of the 7th District Court of Appeals has unanimously upheld the theft-in-office and grand-theft convictions of Richard A. Roller, the former director of the Mahoning-Youngstown Community Action Partnership.
The Youngs-town-based MYCAP administers programs that help poor and disadvantaged county residents.
Its programs range from the Home Weatherization Assistance Program to winter utility payment assistance, job readiness programs and the Community Service Block Grant.
The panel rejected Roller’s argument that he was convicted on the basis of insufficient evidence after the jurors received flawed instructions saying they had to find that Roller was a public official.
“We conclude MYCAP is an agent of the state, and its executive director, by extension, is a public official,” wrote Judge Carol Ann Robb, with Judges Gene Donofrio and Mary DeGenaro concurring.
Judge Robb wrote that the determination of the status of MYCAP and its director was a legal matter for the court to decide, and not a factual question for the jury to decide.
The theft-in-office charge applies to public officials.
“There was sufficient evidence for the jury to decide the grand theft charge,” Judge Robb wrote in the opinion that was released Thursday.
Roller was sentenced to 120 days in Mahoning County jail, with the jail time stayed pending his appeal.
Roller also was sentenced to three years’ probation and ordered to pay $14,000 in restitution. He presented the restitution check to the court at his August 2015 sentencing in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Roller, 51, of Colonial Drive, Liberty, drew the sentence from visiting Judge Paul Mitrovich.
A jury convicted Roller of the theft-in-office and grand-theft charges in May 2015, but it acquitted him of having an unlawful interest in a public contract.
Roller was placed on unpaid administrative leave in April 2010, and the MYCAP board fired him the following month in the wake of the Ohio Department of Development’s investigation into whether the nonprofit organization misappropriated funds and resources while he led it.
In the October 2012 indictment, Roller was charged with using his office to steal $7,500 or more from the state between June 19 and July 13, 2009.
The bill of particulars accused Roller of deceptively obtaining $14,000 in consulting fees and $3,400 in equipment rental fees from the state during that period.
Roller, who has a master’s degree in business administration, directed the agency for about 10 years.
Micah R. Ault, the assistant Ohio attorney general who prosecuted the case, asked the judge to impose a prison term because: “Mr. Roller was in a position of trust when this crime was committed.”
Roller’s lawyer, John B. Juhasz, however, called for probation, saying Roller had no prior criminal record, and he also cited the Ohio Legislature’s preference for not imprisoning nonviolent offenders.
“There certainly is not a man here who has evil motives and intents,” Juhasz said of his client.