Former worker fired from Belinky court dies at 54

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Services will take place at 3 p.m. today in Our Lady of Mount Carmel Basilica Church for Donald D. Gaudio Jr., 54, of Boardman, a former Mahoning County Probate Court deputy clerk and guardianship investigator, who died Monday at the Cleveland Clinic after a brief illness.

Gaudio joined the probate court Dec. 8, 2008, and was fired by then-Judge Mark Belinky on July 14, 2011, after being accused of threatening to punch a Boardman businessman in the face June 15 of that year in the county courthouse rotunda.

Although a sheriff’s department report was filed on that incident, Gaudio was never charged criminally for that.

He was fired for “engaging in unacceptable behavior toward a member of the general public on June 15, 2011,” Lucia Lovell, court administrator, wrote to state Job and Family Services officials in response to Gaudio’s unemployment insurance compensation claim, which the state denied.

In an appeal of the state’s denial, Gaudio wrote on a JFS appeal form that he believed he was fired because Judge Belinky was under FBI investigation and knew that Gaudio had been questioned by the FBI.

Read more about him in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.