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Sciortino’s sentence for personal use of county’s computers fitting
On the side
There’s been some confusion as to one of the guilty pleas from Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally in the Oakhill Renaissance Place case.
There’s no dispute he was found guilty of two counts of falsification and one count of attempted unlawful use of a telecommunication device, all misdemeanors.
The fourth conviction, also a misdemeanor, is for attempted unlawful influence of a public official, according to the court docket in Cuyahoga County, where he pleaded guilty, and the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted him.
In a letter from McNally recently published at the end of Bertram de Souza’s column, the mayor called that last count “attempted disclosure of confidential information.”
Dan Tierney, an AG spokesman, said McNally’s interpretation of that conviction is the “plain English” description, and the two are “interchangeable.” However, attempted unlawful influence of a public official is the “specific charge,” he said.
There are some people in the Mahoning Valley who believe a judge was too harsh when she sentenced ex-Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino to four to six months incarceration in a halfway house.
After all, they say, almost everyone uses their work computer for personal reasons.
However, there is a world of difference between using your work computer on work time to check your email, Facebook or to read this column and what Sciortino did.
Prosecutors say Sciortino, a Democrat, used county computers between Oct. 6, 2005 – a month after he was appointed auditor by the county Democratic Party – and Aug. 29, 2012, more than 300 times for political purposes, his personal DJ/band business and law practice. On top of that, he had three employees help him.
Sciortino profited by his use of county computers. He was paid with taxpayer dollars to do a job and he chose to abuse that by illegally using county equipment on county time.
Sciortino was also using county-owned computers – including two laptops and a hard drive – at his Austintown home. They were discovered and seized by the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation in September 2014.
How many county computers were in Sciortino’s personal office at the courthouse when BCI went in with a search warrant? None.
During his sentencing hearing last week in front of Visiting Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove, a retired Summit County judge, Sciortino said he started using county computers when his personal computer crashed.
When my home computer crashed – it’s happened to me twice in the last 10 years – I tried to get it repaired. When that didn’t work, I purchased a new computer.
I’m not going out on a limb by writing that is what most people do in that situation.
Sciortino apparently thought differently. Based on what prosecutors contend, Sciortino used county-owned computers for his businesses for seven years.
“I thought it was harmless” to “save some of my personal stuff on the equipment,” Sciortino told the judge.
“That was wrong,” he added.
Judge Cosgrove interrupted and said, “Let’s not gild the lily. You saved 500 files. You used it for campaign purposes, golf outings and your law practice.”
She later told Sciortino: “Let’s not fool anybody. You utilized this computer for a lot of different personal reasons from your private law practice to fundraisers for your campaign and it was not just one or two times.”
Sciortino also contended in a written statement to the court that others used county computers for personal and political reasons.
In a filing with the judge before sentencing, John B. Juhasz, Sciortino’s attorney, wrote: “This is neither, to use the language of the law, a substantial ground to mitigate his conduct nor is it enough to constitute a defense. It is mentioned, however, because as a matter of proportionality, when the government is aware that others have done the same with impunity, community control is proper.”
This was part of Juhasz’s failed effort to convince the judge to give Sciortino probation.
What Juhasz is saying is others are using computers paid by taxpayer money on taxpayer time and are getting away with it so Sciortino should be given a break.
If Sciortino is aware of others using government-owned equipment when they should be working – essentially stealing from taxpayers – rather than asking the judge take it easy on him, he should be naming names and cooperating with investigators to find and arrest those people.
As I mentioned, Sciortino is not the only person to work for the county to illegally use government computers, but he’s in very select company when it comes to how much he abused his privilege. And how many have others do it on his or her behalf? If Sciortino knows of others, he has an obligation to come forward and disclose that information to investigators.
One offer from Juhasz on behalf of Sciortino was remarkable.
The attorney said Sciortino would be willing to lead a seminar of county employees on not using government computers for personal use.
Judge Cosgrove responded that all employees have to sign a document declaring they’re aware they can’t use county computers for personal needs.
Of course, Sciortino signed that same document and a month into being county auditor he was already violating that policy and would do so for nearly seven years.