CLEVELAND -- Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine and Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Tim McGinty have announced that indictments have come down against Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally IV, Youngstown attorney Martin Yavorcik and Mahoning County Auditor Michael V. Sciortino.
All were charged in a criminal conspiracy
The indictments are on criminal corruption charges. They include racketeering, money laundering, bribery, perjury, tampering with records, telecommunications fraud and theft in office.
McGinty's office served as special prosecutor in the investigation, assisted by the BCI and the FBI. Overall, the indictments cover the time period from Jan. 1, 2005 until Monday (May 12, 2014).
The investigation revolved around the purchase of the Oakhill Renaissance Place by Mahoning County.
The indictment names, but does not charge several people and entities allegedly involved in the enterprise, including former director of Mahoning County's Jobs and Family Services John Zachariah, former Mahoning County Treasurer Lisa Antonini, Richard Goldberg, the Sciortino Law Firm, as well as the political campaign committees of McNally, Sciortino, Yavorcik and Antonini.
Antonini is in a Youngstown halfway house completing a five month sentence after pleading guilty to one count of honest services mail fraud for failing to report a $3,000 cash gift on a disclosure form mailed to the Ohio Ethics Commission.
This was not the first time there have been indictments involving Mcnally and Sciortino.
In August 2010, the Mahoning County Grand Jury handed down criminal conspiracy indictments against Sciortino, McNally (county commissioner at the time), as well as retired millionaire mall developer Anthony Cafaro, Sr., and former Treasurer John Reardon.
Those charges alleged that Anthony Cafaro, Sr. conspired with several of Mahoning County's elected officials to block the county's purchase of the Oakhill building, allegedly trying to prevent the relocation of the Department of Jobs and Family Services from the Cafaro-owned Garland Plaza to the county-owned former hospital facility named Oakhill Renaissance Place.
A year later, visiting Judge William H. Wolff Jr. dismissed all 73 criminal charges against all defendants in that case "without prejudice," meaning the case could be re-filed.
The prosecutor said he had to ask for the dismissal because the prosecution was unable to obtain 2,000 hours of tape recordings from the FBI, making it impossible to provide them to the defense attorneys as required by law under the rules of evidence.
McNally, a former Mahoning County commissioner and the 50th mayor of Youngstown, was indicted on 1 count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; 2 counts of conspiracy; 2 counts of bribery; 6 counts of tampering with records; 9 counts of perjury; 1 count of money laundering; 2 counts of telecommunications fraud; 2 counts of theft in office; 2 counts of unlawful compensation; 3 counts of disclosing confidential information and 4 counts of prohibited acts/ethics.
Sciortino was indicted on 1 count of engaging in corrupt activity; 2 counts of conspiracy; 2 counts of bribery; 4 counts of tampering with records; 6 counts of perjury; 1 count of money laundering; 2 counts of unlawful compensation; and 4 counts of prohibited acts/ethics.
Yavorcik was indicted 1 count of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity; 2 counts of conspiracy; 3 counts of bribery; and 4 counts of money laundering.
McNally was Mahoning County Commissioner 2005-2012 before becoming mayor in 2014. Sciortino was elected to his first full term of office as Mahoning County Auditor in November, 2006.
Yavorcik practices law in Youngstown.
The 67-page indictment shows 73 counts against the three, with references to others identified only as "...including but not limited to Businessman 1, Business 1, Business 2, Businesswoman 1, Businessman 2, Michael Sciortino, John McNally, Martin Yavorcik, John Zachariah, Law Firm 1, Lisa Antonini, John Doe 1, John Doe 2, Attorney 1, Attorney 2 , Attorney 3, Attorney 4, Attorney 5, Richard Goldberg, campaign committees of John Doe 3, Campaign Committees for Lisa Antonini, Martin Yavorcik, John McNally, Michael Sciortino, Law Firm 2, Attorney 6, Attorney 7, Attorney 8, and others known and unknown all of whom are persons associated with the Enterprise (collectively, "Persons associated with the Enterprise" or "Persons")."
