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Former Traficant aide gets early release
By Joe Gorman
YOUNGSTOWN
A former aide to former U.S. Rep. James A. Traficant Jr. was released early from prison Tuesday. Linda Kovachik, 70, was granted the release in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court by Judge Anthony D’Apolito after she served about eight months of a two-year sentence for taking $100,000 from an elderly woman who had dementia.
Judge D’Apolito said at the time he sentenced Kovachik in January he thought prison was appropriate.
“I believe I’ve punished her as much as I need to punish her,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Family members and Assistant Prosecutor Nick Brevetta opposed the release, however. The victim died just a couple of weeks after Kovachik was given prison time.
A daughter of the victim said Kovachik deserves to serve out her whole sentence. She said her mother could not remember family events or names, but she remembered what Kovachik did to her until the day she died.
“The callousness she used is something I’ll never understand,” she said.
Kovachik’s attorney, Sam Amendolara, said the case is a tragic one and one he will never forget, but he said the law backed up Kovachik’s request for early release. He said she served the minimum amount of prison time before asking for release and also she behaved while in prison.
Amedolara also said his client’s health has deteriorated since she was imprisoned. She was in court in a wheelchair from a broken femur in a recent fall.
Kovachik apologized to the family for her actions. She said prison has changed her life.
Judge D’Apolito said he researched the effect of prison on elderly people before the hearing. He said most people Kovachik’s age who are sentenced for their first felony do not receive prison. He said he was shocked by Kovachik’s appearance in court.
“I don’t even recognize her,” Judge D’Apolito said.
Judge D’Apolito said he was also bound by the law to consider the resources that would have been necessary to keep Kovachik in prison with her health problems.
He did place her on five years’ probation and ordered her to pay 10 percent of whatever income she receives for restitution. He said she will never be able to repay the family everything that was taken, but he wants her to have a regular reminder of what she did.