Records were destroyed in former Niles mayor's office, state auditor's letter says

NILES

The Ohio Auditor’s Office concluded in 2015 that a “destruction of records” took place at the office of former Mayor Ralph Infante.

A 2015 management letter obtained by The Vindicator says state investigators used a subpoena in an effort to secure copies of receipts for permits or licenses from the mayor’s office for 2008 through 2013, but the investigators “could not locate” them.

They also could not find a complete record of the permits or licenses, the letter said.

The search is apparently the one conducted Oct. 14, 2014, by the Special Investigative Unit of the Ohio Auditor’s Office. At the time, the auditor’s office only said the search was part of an ongoing audit.

Infante, when contacted Thursday, asked what type of permits the auditors were looking for because the only ones handled at the mayor’s office were for things such as block parties or ambulance services. The management letter doesn’t say what type of permits were sought.

Building permits, such as the ones state investigators later seized with a separate subpoena, were all handled in the building department, the former mayor said.

A search by state investigators in February at Infante’s house and business further deepened suspicions that investigators were looking at Infante for possible prosecution.