Judge rules for Yavorcik

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

CLEVELAND

A judge ruled that statements Martin Yavorcik made to the FBI - that one agent described as incriminating – about taking campaign cash without reporting it, telling a friend he could fix his case and the true nature of a $15,000 check from a local businesswoman can’t be used in his trial.

Both Yavorcik, the lone defendant in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal-corruption case not to plead guilty, and prosecutors declared victories after a lengthy Thursday pretrial hearing, The trial is to start Monday.

In an interview with The Vindicator after the hearing, Yavorcik said, “I’m pleased. The issue is they’re not going to be able to use my statement so they’re out.”

Dan Kasaris, the case’s lead prosecutor, said, “We never planned on using it unless he testified and said something different.”

Yavorcik, a failed 2008 Mahoning County prosecutor candidate, met three times with FBI agents in 2010 and 2011. He was granted “pocket immunity,” a kind of informal immunity.

During about 90 minutes of questioning by Yavorcik, an attorney defending himself against 11 felony counts, FBI agent Deane Hassman described the statements as incriminating.

Hassman said on the stand that bank records, campaign finance reports and secretly recorded tapes, among other things, provide the evidence against Yavorcik, and he knew about all of it before the defendant first spoke with the FBI in 2010.

Hassman said Yavorcik admitted to taking campaign cash without reporting it, telling his friend Kurt Welsh he could fix a drunken-driving charge, and $15,000 he received from Flora Cafaro, an executive with her family-owned Cafaro Co. shopping complex business, was a bribe and spent on a poll of his 2008 election.

Welsh is a witness for the prosecution at the trial.

When asked by The Vindicator about his statements to the FBI, Yavorcik said, “I admitted there were instances where I received small amounts of money and didn’t report it. That may or may not be an election violation, but it certainly wasn’t a conspiracy or bribery or money laundering or tampering with records.”

Numerous candidates, Yavorcik said, amend their campaign reports “because they forgot a contribution. It’s a campaign violation and it should have been charged as such.”

As for Cafaro’s $15,000, Yavorcik said it was a retainer for legal fees, and that he did no work for it. Prosecutors say an invoice from Yavorcik was made to look like it was for legal services for a business run by Cafaro’s son. Court documents state her son told prosecutors Yavorcik did no work for him.

“It will all come out at trial,” Yavorcik said. “It’s going to be interesting because Flora is not testifying.”

During the hearing, Hassman said he doesn’t know of anyone in law enforcement who questioned Cafaro, who isn’t charged with a crime, about the $15,000. She is not on the witness list even though Yavorcik faces charges for the $15,000 and for a $40,000 contribution she gave his campaign.

Also, prosecutors said a $40,000 contribution to Yavorcik’s 2008 campaign from Anthony Cafaro Sr., the former head of the Cafaro Co., was a bribe. Prosecutors said Cafaro, who they contend was the head of a criminal enterprise, won’t be called to testify. Hassman said like his sister, Anthony Cafaro Sr. hasn’t been questioned by law enforcement. He also hasn’t been charged.

During the hearing, Kasaris said Anthony Cafaro “lied under oath” five or six times during a deposition on a separate case, and prosecutors will use a videotaped deposition of Cafaro to prove a conspiracy charge against Yavorcik.

Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, who is overseeing the case, ruled Yavorcik’s statements to the FBI couldn’t be used during the trial.

She also determined that it didn’t matter if those statements to the FBI were given to a grand jury that indicted Yavorcik. The defendant had sought to look at secret grand-jury testimony to determine if that happened. Prosecutors said they didn’t provide that information to the grand jury.

Hassman said the pocket immunity didn’t prohibit him from providing Yavorcik’s statements to prosecutors, something he did with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office in June or July 2012.

Yavorcik insists that violated his immunity deal and wants criminal charges against him dismissed. Judge Burnside rejected that request, however.

Yavorcik has insisted he had no interest in a plea bargain.

His two co-defendants - Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally and ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino - took deals before the start of the trial.

Prosecutors accuse Yavorcik of taking money – that were either bribes or money laundering – from McNally; Sciortino; Lisa Antonini, the former Mahoning County Democratic Party chairwoman and county treasurer; and the Cafaros.

They, and others, tried to stop or impede the relocation of the Mahoning County Job and Family Services Department from Garland Plaza, owned by a Cafaro Co. subsidiary, to Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center owned by the county, prosecutors contend.

In exchange for money, prosecutors say Yavorcik ran as an independent in 2008 for Mahoning County prosecutor so if he won, he wouldn’t prosecute or investigate them. He lost by 38 percentage points to incumbent Democrat Paul J. Gains.

Prosecutors also said Yavorcik filed false campaign finance reports.

Yavorcik faces 11 felonies – one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, one count of conspiracy, three counts of bribery, four counts of money laundering, and two counts of tampering with records.

Yavorcik, McNally and Sciortino were indicted May 14, 2014.

On Feb. 26, McNally and Sciortino pleaded guilty to reduced charges and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. On that day, Yavorcik said he was ready to go to trial.

McNally pleaded guilty to four misdemeanors. He had faced 18 felonies and seven misdemeanors. Sciortino pleaded guilty to one felony and two misdemeanors. He faced 11 felonies and six misdemeanors. The two will be sentenced March 28.