Ex-Warren Fabricating CFO pleads guilty to theft, to repay $400K

Staff report

WARREN

Former Warren Fabricating chief financial officer Paul F. Theisler Jr., 66, of Andrews Court, Canfield, will spend two years in prison if he turns over $400,000 in restitution by Aug. 8, as his plea agreement requires.

Theisler was the company’s most senior and highest-ranking employee when company officials determined in late 2016 that he stole more than $2 million from the company.

Theisler was scheduled to go to trial Monday in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on one count of aggravated theft, but he pleaded guilty to a reduced count of aggravated theft late Monday, before the trial started.

He will be sentenced Aug. 8 by Judge W. Wyatt McKay and could get up to eight years in prison. His original charge would have allowed him to get up to 11 years.

Warren Fabricating’s president, Regina Mitchell, said in 2016 that the company discovered financial irregularities, conducted an internal investigation and reported it to law enforcement.

Warren Fabricating has its corporate headquarters on Chestnut-Ridge Road in Hubbard and a plant on Mahoning Avenue in Warren.

It specializes in the fabrication, machining and assembly of large steel pieces welded together for the mining, energy and steel industries.