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Bribery charges pile up against former Niles Mayor Infante
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Because the newest indictment in the Ralph Infante public-corruption case is lengthy and complex, it was not readily apparent when it was handed up last month that the former Niles mayor is accused of four more instances of accepting bribe money in exchange for city jobs.
Investigators digging further into Infante’s activities after his original November indictment believe Infante used the payroll of the city of Niles to get cash for himself, landscaping work for a relative and items for his bar, ITAM 39 in McKinley Heights.
Infante’s newest indictment charges him with eight counts of bribery, compared with four in the November indictment.
He is now accused of taking bribes at least nine times throughout his time as Niles mayor to provide people with jobs with the city or a promotion.
The new bribery indictments include one from March 2003, when he’s accused of accepting at least $2,500 from a person “and/or had the person do landscaping work” at a relative’s house in return for providing the person with a full-time job with the city.
A new bribery indictment accuses Infante of taking thousands of dollars in January 2012 from a person in return for giving someone a full-time job with the city.
A December 2014 bribery allegation says Infante accepted thousands of dollars “and/or a big-screen television at the ITAM 39 and/or an air conditioning unit” at the ITAM in return for helping the person get promoted to a city job.
The Ohio Auditor’s Office placed the city in fiscal emergency two months earlier in 2014. Investigators with the auditor’s office also had gone to Infante’s offices, Oct. 14, 2014, seeking records as part of its audit of the city’s books.
The newest bribery indictment says Infante accepted thousand of dollars as late as October 2015 in exchange for providing someone with a full-time job with the city.
Infante already had lost the primary election the previous spring. That loss caused one city employee to tell investigators that she had quit making annual “homage payments” to Infante of $500 to $1,000. She said she quit making the payments because Infante was no longer going to be mayor.
Visiting Judge Patricia Cosgrove imposed an unofficial gag order in the case, asking that the parties not discuss it outside of hearings and court filings, but Infante told The Vindicator before his arraignment that he “never took a dime.”
Infante did not respond to requests to comment on the newest indictment.
Earlier indictments, repeated in his newest charges, accuse Infante of accepting money or services for giving a job to someone with the city in 1993, twice in 1995 and once in 1997.
Theft-in-office and soliciting improper compensation charges repeated in the newest indictment accuse him of allowing free landscaping at a former city councilman’s house, sales of city-owned scrap metal, allowing free water to the Scrappers baseball field in Niles and free mechanic work.
Many other allegations are still part of Infante’s charges, such as accepting $8,000 worth of NCAA football championship tickets from a businessman or his son who did business with the city; waiving $40,000 in permit fees for a Niles business; and hiring Infante’s retired brother to work for the city.
The newest indictment gives specific dollar amounts Infante is accused of earning illegally on gambling, some of which investigators believe took place at city hall. It says investigators found records in Infante’s handwriting showing gambling profits from 1992 to 2015 ranged from $25 to $2,700 for events such as the Super Bowl. Total unreported profit for events over 23 years was $59,620, the newest indictment alleges.
The first indictments stunned the community with allegations that Infante, 61, began a criminal enterprise even before he became Niles mayor in 1992 that included taking bribes, accepting improper gifts, allowing gifts from city assets to be given to others and running a gambling house in McKinley Heights.
Prosecutors still say the general purpose of the enterprise Infante ran was to “create sources of money and power” for Ralph Infante, with “hundreds of thousands of dollars” changing hands and more than a dozen other people and multiple companies being involved.
Among them are his wife, Judy Infante, 68, and former Niles Auditor Charles Nader, 64, who are indicted with him.
Ralph and Judy Infante have been free on bond since their arraignments. Ralph Infante lost his job as mayor at the end of 2015 when he lost re-election. Nader, who will be arraigned Wednesday, resigned as auditor in 2015.
Ralph Infante is now charged with 41 criminal counts, down from 56 the first time. Among the charges dropped were five counts of money laundering related to gambling allegations and seven counts of filing a false disclosure statement.
Ralph Infante’s most serious charge is engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, also referred to as racketeering. It carries a possible 10-year prison term if he is convicted. Judy Infante and Nader could get several years in prison if convicted.
The next hearing for both of the Infantes is 11 a.m. Nov. 15 before Judge Cosgrove. They are scheduled to go on trial at 9 a.m. Dec. 11.
Nader has no trial date, but he will be arraigned at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Judy Infante is also due for a pretrial at 11 a.m. Wednesday.