Oakhill Renaissance case is about criminal conduct

When Youngstown’s mayor, John A. McNally, and former Mahoning County Auditor Michael Sciortino face sentencing for their participation in the Oakhill Renaissance Place criminal enterprise, Friday’s conviction of Youngstown Atty. Martin Yavorcik will loom large.

That’s because a jury found Yavorcik guilty of eight felony charges stemming from his involvement in the Oakhill conspiracy. The charges include engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; conspiracy; and money laundering.

It’s no coincidence that McNally, Sciortino and Yavorcik were indicted at the same time in the Oakhill Renaissance case. All three acted at the behest of the mastermind of the enterprise, Anthony M. Cafaro Sr., the retired president of the Cafaro Co.

Cafaro Sr. was head of the company when he sought to block county government’s purchase of the Oakhill Renaissance Place, the former Southside Medical Center. He had McNally, who was a county commissioner at the time, Sciortino and other county officials assist him in his endeavor.

Cafaro was opposed to the purchase because the two commissioners in favor of it, Anthony Traficanti and David Ludt, announced that they would relocate the county’s Job and Family Services agency from the Cafaro Co.-owned Garland Plaza.

McNally and Sciortino struck a deal with the prosecution and pleaded guilty to several criminal charges. Had they gone to trial, they would be facing some serious jail time – as the Yavorcik conviction shows. The Youngstown lawyer, who received money from members of the Cafaro family and others to run against county Prosecutor Paul Gains, faces three to 10 years behind bars.

Prosecutors in the Oakhill Renaissance case, Dan Kasaris, a senior assistant Ohio attorney general; Matthew E. Meyer, a Cuyahoga County assistant prosecutor; and Leigh Bayer, an assistant attorney general, will ask Judge Janet Burnside of the Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to send Yavorcik to prison.

Kasaris, Meyer and Bayer have earned the appreciation of all law-abiding residents of the Mahoning Valley and deserve the support of this region as they make the argument for Yavorcik’s incarceration. He will be sentenced April 22.

The case laid out by the prosecution team clearly established that the participants, including the unindicted co-conspirators, formed a criminal enterprise that meets the definition of the state and federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) statutes.

That’s important because it sets the stage for future indictments and criminal charges.

As for Monday’s sentencing of McNally and Sciortino, we believe that Judge Burnside now has a clear understanding of what occurred; she presided over the Yavorcik trial.

A criminal enterprise was established to undermine the operation of Mahoning County government.

A legal slap on the wrist for McNally and Sciortino would tell the public that crime does pay – for some people.