YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Recently unsealed affidavits show convicted ex-Mahoning county probate court judge Mark Belinky admitted to additional crimes.
Thursday's
edition of 21 News print partner The Vindicator reports Belinky, who
was convicted of tampering with records last year, admitted to stealing
money from people for whom he was acting as guardian.
Belinky also admitted altering probate court documents to further such theft and to using a Mahoning County probate computer to create false probate court records.
The information comes from affidavits from a special agent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The Vindicator also reports that those same affidavits in the Oakhill corruption case allege that retired businessman Anthony Cafaro Sr. sought out people to donate money to political campaigns, and then would reimburse those donors.
The documents state that businessman Bruce Zoldan testified twice in front of the Oakhill grand jury that Cafaro offered to reimburse him for a donation in 2010 to Carol Rimedio-Righetti, who was elected county commissioner.
Cafaro also allegedly offered to reimburse Zoldan for a donation to attorney Martin Yavorcik’s unsuccessful 2008 campaign for county prosecutor.
Yavorcik is one of the defendants in the upcoming Oakhill political corruption trial.
Zoldan told The Vindicator he rejected both offers.
Anthony Cafaro has not been charged with any crimes since he was indicted along with then Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally, Auditor Michael Sciortino and former Treasurer John Reardon in the original Oakhill case.
The 73 counts in that indictment were dismissed in 2011 after prosecutors say they could not obtain audio recordings obtained by the FBI to use as evidence.
Those recordings are being used in the latest Oakhill case against Yavorcik, McNally and Sciortino
Belinky also admitted altering probate court documents to further such theft and to using a Mahoning County probate computer to create false probate court records.
The information comes from affidavits from a special agent of the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
The Vindicator also reports that those same affidavits in the Oakhill corruption case allege that retired businessman Anthony Cafaro Sr. sought out people to donate money to political campaigns, and then would reimburse those donors.
The documents state that businessman Bruce Zoldan testified twice in front of the Oakhill grand jury that Cafaro offered to reimburse him for a donation in 2010 to Carol Rimedio-Righetti, who was elected county commissioner.
Cafaro also allegedly offered to reimburse Zoldan for a donation to attorney Martin Yavorcik’s unsuccessful 2008 campaign for county prosecutor.
Yavorcik is one of the defendants in the upcoming Oakhill political corruption trial.
Zoldan told The Vindicator he rejected both offers.
Anthony Cafaro has not been charged with any crimes since he was indicted along with then Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally, Auditor Michael Sciortino and former Treasurer John Reardon in the original Oakhill case.
The 73 counts in that indictment were dismissed in 2011 after prosecutors say they could not obtain audio recordings obtained by the FBI to use as evidence.
Those recordings are being used in the latest Oakhill case against Yavorcik, McNally and Sciortino
Full Article & Source:
New allegations about Belinky and Cafaro in unsealed affidavits
This is interesting. How can a judge do the stealing?
ReplyDeleteThere has to be more to this story to explain how he did it.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to hearing the details as to how a judge did all of this. To think that only a year ago, Ohio looked perfectly fine in terms of guardianship. If it hadn't been for the Columbus Dispatch, none of this would have been uncovered. What is wrong with our country that our government can allow this? My guess is that nearly every probate court in the nation has some skimming and stealing taking place. There is NO monitoring to help these poor victims who can't help themselves.
ReplyDelete