Ex-Niles Mayor Ralph Infante Jr. indicted


SEE ALSO: Oakhill criminal-corruption investigation officially over

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

Infante Indictments

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Indictments against former Mayor of Niles, Ralph Infante, and associates related to public corruption and illegal gambling operations.

Two years after news of an investigation of possible corruption in Niles government began, an indictment of former Mayor Ralph Infante laid bare allegations of public corruption few could have imagined.

The 56-count indictment of Infante, released Tuesday, references bribery dating back to 1993, unreported gifts in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, including envelopes of cash around Christmas time, accepting money for a job with the city and a vice that harkens back to the Niles of yesteryear – gambling.

The indictments unsealed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court contain a variety of allegations, including 17 counts of felony tampering with records, five counts of money laundering, two counts of theft in office, four counts of bribery and others.

The most serious charge Infante faces is engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, which carries a 10-year prison sentence upon conviction.

The other charges, especially the 17 counts of tampering, could make his possible sentence rise to more than 100 years.

The charges date back to 1993, just one year after Infante began his career as Niles mayor, which spanned 24 years, ending in 2015.

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine, whose office worked on the investigation with the Ohio Auditor’s Office and FBI, characterized the former mayor’s purported crimes as engaging in “graft and accepting bribes,” adding that “in all, the indictment alleges Infante received nearly $200,000 in unreported cash, income, and gifts.”

Ohio Auditor Dave Yost, in a statement, said of the charges, “We’re confident our report will be found to be proof beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The investigation into Niles government corruption began with the auditor’s office, which uncovered thefts by two city employees.

The auditors office’s special investigations unit uncovered the thefts, and both employees were convicted in common pleas court.

The cases involved Phyllis Wilson, 61, a former treasurer’s office employee, convicted of stealing $142,000; and Heidi Powell, 33, who stole $731 from her job in the city’s billing office.

Infante could not be reached by telephone to comment on the indictments, and his daughter was standing by at his home on Rhodes Avenue, telling a reporter the former mayor and his wife, Judy, no longer live there.

She declined to say where they now live.

Judy Infante, 67, also faces 10 charges, accused of assisting her husband with tampering with records, mostly associated with filing false tax returns. If convicted, she could get more than 30 years in prison.

A city employee, Scott Shaffer, 51 of Fairlawn Avenue in Niles, is charged with two counts of theft in office. He’s accused of selling city property for cash without returning the cash to the city and using city equipment and property for personal reasons for more than a decade.

His charges could produce a prison term of up to six years.

All three are due for their first court appearance at 1 p.m. Dec. 5 in the Trumbull County Courthouse. A visiting judge, Patricia A. Cosgrove of Summit County, will preside over the cases.

Dan Kasaris, a senior assistant attorney general, was appointed to prosecute the cases, including presenting them to a county grand jury.

Ralph Infante’s business, ITAM No. 39, at 1762 N. State St., Girard, was indicted on gambling offenses and one count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. That latter charge dates back to 1992, the first year Infante was mayor.

All seven members of Niles City Council, Council President Bob Marino and Mayor Thomas Scarnecchia were asked for a comment on the indictments at a Niles Finance Committee meeting Tuesday afternoon. Only Councilman Steve Papalas responded, saying he was “surprised.”

Former Niles Councilman Frank Fuda, now a county commissioner, seemed despondent when told of the type of corruption public being alleged.

“That’s the bad part of government. That’s sad. You never expect it,” he said.

When told of the amount of money and how far back the allegations go, Fuda said, “That’s a lot of money. That’s why people get upset with government, I guess.”

Fuda said Niles has had a history with gambling, saying, “I think they were the gambling center of Northeast Ohio. There was a lot of gambling here when we were kids, but no violence.”

Fellow county Commissioner Mauro Cantalamessa said it gives a “black eye” to Niles and “the entire Mahoning Valley.” He feels bad for the Infante family, especially Karen Infante Allen, who is county clerk of courts. “She’s a sweetheart,” he said.

Amanda Moore of Niles, a mother of three children who was interviewed outside of a Niles grocery store Tuesday afternoon, said she worries what the children of Niles will think.

“They are supposed to be an example,” she said of government officials. “What are our kids going to think? We try to teach our kids right from wrong. It’s ridiculous.”

Among the tampering-with-evidence charges are ones accusing Ralph Infante of accepting NCAA Championship basketball tickets in 2007 and failing to report them on his Ohio Ethics Commission disclosure form for 2008.

The indictment says a businessman gave them to him, and their value was $7,556.

In 2008, he is accused of accepting $18,509 in cash, gifts and gambling income without reporting it to the ethics commission.

He’s accused of taking $18,949 in 2009 from similar sources; $17,010 in 2010; $14,912 in 2011; $41,100 in 2012; $28,283 in 2013; and $6,015 in 2014.

Ralph Infante faces 10 misdemeanor charges of receiving improper compensation for purportedly accepting payments of cash in envelopes in 2009 and onward from city employees. The amounts were $1,000 and under.

A theft-in-office charge accuses the former mayor of providing free city property to a company located in Niles without authority or city council approval and allowing city employees to use city equipment for personal use, including landscaping work at a former city councilman’s house.

He’s accused of accepting a bribe of $500 to $1,000 in 1993 in exchange for giving someone a job with the city. And he’s accused of giving a job to a friend of a contractor after the contractor performed $7,000 to $8,000 worth of work on Infante’s property in 1995.

In February, agents with several state agencies, including the Ohio auditor’s Special Investigation Unit, Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation Cyber Crime Unit and FBI, searched Infante’s home on North Rhodes Avenue.

They used a search warrant to enter his home and the ITAM club.

Agents with the auditor’s Special Investigation Unit also spent an afternoon at Infante’s office at Niles City Hall on Oct. 14, 2014, searching for documents and other records while the state auditor’s office was conducting an audit of the city’s books.

That audit followed the state auditor’s Oct. 8, 2014, announcement the city had been placed in fiscal emergency because of deficit spending.

The city remains in fiscal emergency.

Infante lost in the Democratic primary election in 2015 to Thomas Scarnecchia. Infante is former secretary of the Trumbull County Democratic Party and former Trumbull County Board of Elections member.

Vindicator correspondent Jordan Cohen contributed to this report.