UPDATE | State, county seize records at NYO Property Group

March 16, 2017 at 4:49p.m.

YOUNGSTOWN — State and Mahoning County authorities are investigating the legality of money from city water and wastewater funds given to three projects from companies co-owned by developer Dominic J. Marchionda.

Today’s seizure of records at Marchionda’s NYO Property Group in downtown Youngstown and at his Poland home was led by the Ohio Auditor’s Office with assistance from the Ohio Attorney General’s Office, the Mahoning County prosecutor and county sheriff’s department.

John F. McCaffrey, Marchionda’s attorney, confirmed that at the request of the state auditor’s office his client was putting together documents related to water and wastewater funds given by the city for the development of the Flats at Wick student housing, an NYO property near the Youngstown State University campus, as well as Erie Terminal Place and Wick Tower. The latter two are apartment buildings operated by companies co-owned by Marchionda.

The city gave $1.2 million in water and wastewater funds to U.S. Campus Suites LLC, an NYO subsidiary, in 2009 for the Flats at Wick student housing project Marchionda’s company paid $1 million to the city for the property, so the company netted $200,000.

The city gave Erie Terminal Place, another NYO subsidiary, $350,000 in water and wastewater funds in 2011 for its Erie Terminal Place apartment project, and then $220,000 two years later for improvement work at that downtown property.

Also, $500,000 in those funds went to Wick Properties LLC, also an NYO subsidiary, in 2015 for the apartment/extended-stay Wick Tower that opened in November of that year.

Agents, assisted by a sheriff’s detective and a deputy, arrived just after 9 a.m. at NYO Property Group’s downtown office at the First National Bank building, 1 W. Federal St., and filled up several boxes with documents. Agents on scene were busy filling bags and marking them with evidence stickers. The offices seemed almost deserted except for the activity related to the warrant. Three employees left about 12:15 p.m.

In Poland, law enforcement officials took documents from Marchionda’s home. A sheriff’s office vehicle was parked outside the home that’s tucked away on Via Attilio, a cul-de-sac in the Tuscany development. Several unmarked black vehicles were parked in the driveway.