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Man enters third guilty plea in treasurer’s office ripoff
YOUNGSTOWN
For Kyheem Underwood, Monday’s guilty plea was the third such plea, after the third indictment, before the third different Mahoning County Common Pleas Court judge in the same series of thefts and forgeries he committed as a summer worker in the Mahoning County Treasurer’s Office in 2015.
The series of thefts and forgeries totaled more than $10,000.
In his third plea hearing, Underwood, 19, of Jean Street, Campbell, pleaded guilty to one count of theft in office, three counts each of theft and receiving stolen property and six counts of forgery on the day his jury trial was set to begin.
He entered his plea before Judge Shirley J. Christian, who will sentence him at 9 a.m. Nov. 16.
In making the plea agreement, Nicholas Brevetta, an assistant county prosecutor, recommended incarceration concurrent with the six-month jail term imposed Sept. 1 by Judge John M. Durkin after Underwood pleaded guilty to theft in office and forgery.
However, Brevetta did not recommend a specific length for the new sentence.
Judge Durkin’s sentence, which included three years’ probation, was imposed after Underwood was arrested in Campbell on a bench warrant for his earlier failure to appear before Judge Durkin for his scheduled sentencing.
In November 2015, visiting Judge Richard D. Reinbold Jr. sentenced Underwood to six months’ probation after he pleaded guilty to receiving stolen property.
Underwood was indicted three times because he did not admit all of his crimes when he was initially charged, Brevetta said.
“This is all under one course [of action]. We just discovered more and more of it as the days went on,” Brevetta explained.
“He does deserve to be incarcerated for what he did and the abuse of office. However, he is very young,” and had no prior criminal record, Brevetta added.
Underwood’s job included opening and sorting the treasurer’s office mail.
Brevetta did not blame any weaknesses in treasurer’s office procedures regarding mail handling or timely deposit of real-estate tax-payment checks for the thefts and forgeries.
“There was nothing that the treasurer could have done to prevent this. This is someone that was pilfering checks as they came in. I don’t know how you stop that,” Brevetta said.
“When they open the mail, the check’s there. I don’t know how you prevent someone from taking that and putting it in their pocket, and that’s what happened,” he added.
Brevetta said he will seek more than $10,000 in restitution from Underwood to the treasurer’s office and the people whose checks Underwood forged and cashed.
After Underwood was indicted for the third time, county Treasurer Dan Yemma said his office opens and sorts its mail daily, processes it as quickly as possible and continues to work to improve its efficiency in this task.
The checks and balances in the treasurer’s office ensure that anyone who steals, as Underwood did, will be caught, he said.