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VINDY EXCLUSIVE | State prosecutors: Ralph Infante corruption charge should stand
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
Ralph Infante Appeal
Document
In a lengthy accounting of misdeeds committed by former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante, prosecutors in his public-corruption case refuted reasons Infante’s attorney has given for why some of Infante’s convictions should be overturned.
In a lengthy accounting of misdeeds committed by former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante, prosecutors in his public-corruption case rebutted reasons Infante’s attorney has given for why some of his convictions should be overturned.
Atty. Dan Kasaris of the Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a 44-page brief Thursday with the 11th District Court of Appeals. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office prosecuted the case in cooperation with investigators with the Ohio Auditor’s Office and FBI.
Infante, 63, was sentenced to 10 years in prison in May after a jury in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of 22 criminal counts. They are engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, 13 counts of tampering with records and lesser counts of theft in office, having a public interest in a public contract, gambling and falsification.
The filing gives an 18-page description of the acts prosecutors say went into the corruption conviction:
Infante and his wife, Judy, failed to report $59,620 in gambling profits they earned through the bar they formerly operated on U.S. Route 422 in McKinley Heights.
City employee Scott Shaffer gave $3,000 in cash to Ralph Infante in 2012 and bought and installed a television and air conditioner worth about $2,000 for the Infantes’ bar for free in 2014. Shaffer also gave Ralph Infante $1,500 in 2015. None of it was reported as gifts on disclosure forms required of government officials.
Ralph Infante admitted in 2009 that he got two free tickets to the 2007 National Championship football game from local businessmen Anthony Cafaro Sr. or his son, Anthony Cafaro Jr., and did not report them as gifts.
The Ohio Auditor’s Office concluded the amount of cash deposits into the Infantes’ bank accounts from 2009 to 2014 not attributable to income sources such as Ralph Infante’s salary as mayor was $103,605. The money was not reported as income or gifts on financial-disclosure forms.
Shaffer gave $100 gift certificates to Ralph Infante in 2012 and 2014 and plowed snow at the Infantes’ home, their bar and Ralph Infante’s mother’s house for free “every time it needed to be plowed” from 2010 to 2014. None of the gifts were reported as income. The jury found Ralph Infante not guilty of allegations he took bribes from Shaffer and another man.
City employee Karen DeChristofaro gave Ralph Infante $1,000 in cash from 2009 through 2014 at Christmastime but did not report it as gifts on state disclosure forms.
Shaffer made 34 trips to a Warren scrapyard from 2011 to 2014 and received $3,292, mostly in cash, in exchange for scrap metal resulting from city projects, such as removing iron pipes from the city water system. Shaffer would then deliver the money with a receipt to Ralph Infante at city hall.
The Cafaro-operated baseball field at the Eastwood Mall complex received $60,000 to $65,000 in free water despite the issue being reported to Ralph Infante and other officials.
Ralph Infante ordered city employees to perform free work at the Eastwood Mall complex that cost the city thousands of dollars.
Shaffer used city vehicles for private matters with Ralph Infante’s knowledge.
A search of the computers of Ralph Infante and his secretary, Bonnie Marchionte, showed correspondence and documents regarding Ralph Infante’s political campaigns.
Ralph Infante allowed building fees for the Cafaro Co.’s new office complex and another construction project at the mall complex to be waived even though that authority rested solely with Niles City Council.
Ralph Infante hired/rehired his brother to a job with the city with preferential employment terms.
Prosecutors showed that Ralph Infante was part of a criminal enterprise because he “had worked with or associated himself with his campaign, the office of the mayor, his wife, Scott Shaffer and” his bar, Kasaris said.
As an example, Ralph Infante led a meeting at city hall attended by Niles department heads in which he asked them what “concessions” they could give to the Cafaro Co. during the construction of the Cafaro office complex and another project, Kasaris said.
As a result, fire hydrants valued at $3,000 were provided free to the projects, Kasaris wrote.
Visiting judges from the Akron area will preside over the appeal.