McKinney subpoenas Brown, others in election-fraud suit

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Former Youngstown mayoral candidate Sean McKinney has issued subpoenas compelling multiple county officials and his election opponent, Mayor-elect Jamael Tito Brown, to appear at depositions later this week.

McKinney lost November’s election to Brown by 201 votes, but filed a lawsuit earlier this month alleging widespread fraud in the election.

This came as the Mahoning County Board of Elections was under scrutiny from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office after reporting by The Vindicator revealed final unofficial results released to the media and public on election night double-counted 6,000 early-vote ballots. The board corrected the results without alerting the media to the error.

A notice of deposition filed in McKinney’s case Tuesday with the Mahoning County Clerk of Courts asks Brown to appear at 11 a.m. Friday at A&A Reporting at 837 Boardman-Canfield Road.

Another notice of depositions includes Mahoning County Commissioners David Ditzler and Carol Rimedio-Righetti as well as David Betras, chairman of the Mahoning County Democratic Party.

The list also includes two former county officials with felony convictions.

Those are former Mahoning County Treasurer Lisa Antonini, who served five months in federal prison on a mail-fraud conviction for failing to report a $3,000 cash gift on a disclosure form, and former Mahoning County Auditor Michael Sciortino, who spent time in a Community Corrections Association halfway house after pleading guilty to unauthorized use of computer or telecommunications property for his role in the Oakhill Renaissance Place corruption scandal.

All of the depositions are scheduled for Thursday and Friday.

McKinney directed questions about the notices of depositions to his attorney, who did not return calls from The Vindicator on Tuesday.

Earlier this month, McKinney subpoenaed Mahoning County Board of Elections Director Joyce Kale-Pesta and Deputy Director Thomas McCabe. A county attorney challenged those subpoenas.

Visiting Judge Patricia A. Cosgrove, who is presiding over the case, has yet to issue any judgments.