Yavorcik guilty on 8 counts, faces 3-10 years in prison

By DAVID SKOLNICK

skolnick@vindy.com

CLEVELAND

Prosecutors will ask a judge to send Martin Yavorcik, convicted of eight felonies, to prison for his crimes.

Yavorick, a failed 2008 Mahoning County prosecutor candidate, faces up to 10 years in prison when sentenced April 22.

Yavorcik is free without bond until his sentencing.

The jury Friday, its second day of deliberating, found him guilty of eight counts, not guilty of one, and was deadlocked on one.

Yavorcik’s most-serious conviction is for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, a first-degree felony.

“For a nonviolent offense in Ohio, that’s as bad as it gets,” said Matthew E. Meyer, a Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor and one of three attorneys who prosecuted Yavorcik. “Mr. Yavorcik’s crimes are extremely serious.”

Dan Kasaris, a senior assistant Ohio attorney general and another prosecutor in this case, added: “You can’t get more serious than this other than a capital [murder] offense.”

They said they’ll ask Judge Janet R. Burnside of Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court, who oversaw the trial, to sentence Yavorcik to prison time. He faces three to 10 years behind bars for his crimes.

Yavorcik stood in shock as Judge Burnside read the jury’s decision.

“I’m disappointed in the verdict, obviously,” he said during brief statements outside the courtroom. “I respect [the verdict]. I respect the jury process. I’m going to appeal, and this isn’t over.”

Asked by The Vindicator if he was stunned by the verdict, Yavorcik, an attorney who defended himself, said, “Yeah, obviously. I thought we did well. I didn’t think the government proved its case, but the jury thought otherwise. You’ve got to respect that, but that’s why we have an appeals court.”

Yavorcik didn’t say what reasons he’d give as grounds for an appeal.

Meyer said he, Kasaris and Leigh Bayer, an assistant Ohio attorney general and a prosecutor during this trial, proved that Yavorcik was part of a criminal conspiracy.

Kasaris, who was born and raised in Mahoning County, said the verdict “sends a message to the Mahoning Valley. The time for political corruption in Youngstown is over. We don’t need to live where corrupt public officials are acceptable.”

“The voters need to know people running for office are honest,” Meyer added. “He ran for prosecutor with the express intent of corrupting that office.”

The jury spent about six hours Friday and about five hours Thursday deliberating the 10 felonies facing Yavorcik.

The jury found him guilty of:

Engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

Conspiracy.

Bribery for taking $135,500 and other campaign services from former Cafaro Co. executives Anthony Cafaro Sr., his sister Flora, and their brother, J.J.

Bribery for taking $2,500 from Lisa Antonini, a former Mahoning County Democratic Party chairwoman and county treasurer.

Bribery for taking $2,500 from ex-county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.

Tampering with records for falsifying his 2008 pre-general election campaign-finance report.

Money laundering for taking $15,000 from Flora Cafaro.

Money laundering for taking $2,500 from Sciortino.

The jury found him not guilty of tampering with records for supposedly falsifying his 2008 post-general election finance report.

The jury couldn’t decide on a money-laundering charge accusing Yavorcik of taking $120,000 from the three Cafaro siblings. Kasaris said prosecutors won’t seek to prosecute Yavorcik on that criminal count.

There was a bit of irony the jury found Yavorcik guilty on Good Friday. During a Feb. 12 hearing, at which Judge Burnside questioned whether he was making a good decision to defend himself, Yavorcik said that Jesus Christ had defended himself before his crucifixion.

That led prosecutors to ask that Yavorcik not be permitted to compare himself to Jesus during the trial. The judge granted the request. Yavorcik said he never intended to make such a comparison.

The jury decided six counts – all guilty – by Thursday afternoon, only a few hours after they started to deliberate.

The jurors couldn’t come up with a decision on four other charges: Cafaro money laundering, tampering with evidence related to Yavorcik’s 2008 postgeneral campaign report, and the two other money-laundering counts, Meyer told The Vindicator after the trial.

The foreman sent a note to Judge Burnside about 1:50 p.m. Friday saying jurors couldn’t decide on four counts. The judge urged them to re-examine the case. About 90 minutes later, they made their decision to find him guilty of two counts, not guilty of one and unable to decide on one.

Judge Burnside said she would merge the conspiracy conviction in with engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. Some of the other convictions, she said, may also be merged with corrupt activity.

Prosecutors say Yavorcik ran for prosecutor in 2008 as an independent against incumbent Democrat Paul J. Gains to put an end to a criminal investigation of his political allies.

“The jury obviously saw indeed there was a conspiracy, and that Mr. Yavorcik was a part of it,” Gains said. “I want to thank Attorney General Mike DeWine and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty for their efforts in seeing that justice has been done.”

DeWine said he didn’t want to say much before Yavorcik’s sentencing.

“Justice has been done,” he said. “The verdict speaks for itself. The jury spoke through [its] verdict. This type of activity is illegal, and the jury held him accountable in this case.”

The investigation into Yavorcik was related to his allies’ alleged illegal efforts in 2006 to stop or impede the county’s purchase of Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Forum Health Southside Medical Center. The county moved its Department of Job and Family Services to Oakhill from the Garland Plaza, owned by a Cafaro Co. subsidiary. The county had paid about $449,000 annually in rent at Garland.

Yavorcik had nothing to do with Oakhill, but was indicted for engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity and conspiracy related to that issue as prosecutors said he joined the group in 2008 in order to get elected prosecutor and kill the Oakhill investigation.

Those allies in 2008 included: Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally, who was a Mahoning County commissioner at the time; then county Auditor Michael V. Sciortino, who lost his re-election bid in 2014 while under indictment; then county Treasurer Lisa Antonini, who was also the county Democratic Party chairwoman; John Reardon, a former county treasurer who left for a job in the administration of then Gov. Ted Strickland; Anthony Cafaro Sr., then president of his family-owned Cafaro Co. retail development company who is now retired; and his sister, Flora Cafaro, a company executive, who her brother J.J. Cafaro testified is in poor health.

McNally and Sciortino, both Democrats, were Yavorcik’s co-defendants, but took plea deals on Feb. 26 related to their involvement in the Oakhill matter. They’ll be sentenced Monday by Judge Burnside.

Yavorcik was offered plea deals, including one before he, along with McNally and Sciortino, was indicted on May 14, 2014. Yavorcik rejected them.

While Meyer wouldn’t say what the plea offers were to Yavorcik, he said deals “usually come with a reduction” in criminal counts.

Antonini and Reardon, also Democrats, were convicted of crimes not related to Oakhill.

Neither Anthony Cafaro Sr. or Flora Cafaro has been charged. But on the witness stand earlier this week, FBI special agent Deane Hassman said, “Anthony Cafaro Sr. is still under investigation.”

Attempts Friday by The Vindicator to reach McNally and Sciortino for comment were unsuccessful.

John McCaffrey, Anthony Cafaro Sr.’s attorney, declined to comment.

Joe Bell, spokesman for the Cafaro Co., said, “We really don’t have anything we care to say as a company about” Yavorcik’s convictions.

Yavorcik said he ran for county prosecutor because he wanted the job and had personal grudges against Gains. The jury sided with prosecutors in this case, who said Yavorcik ran to get elected and make the Oakhill investigation go away.