Ex-Trumbull jailer guilty of dereliction of duty

WARREN — Michael Palumbo, a former Trumbull County jail corrections officer fired after being accused of altering a document relating to an inmate who later died in the jail, was found guilty of two misdemeanor charges of dereliction of duty.

Palumbo, 39, of Russell Avenue, Niles, will be sentenced in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court four to six weeks after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department conducts a presentence investigation.

Investigators said Palumbo tampered with records April 27, 2009, regarding inmate Adam N. Border, 24, of Vienna, on the day Palumbo booked him into jail in 2008.

According to a letter from Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins and Sheriff Thomas Altiere, jail officials discovered in June 2009 that Palumbo altered the booking information he recorded Jan. 12, 2008, to indicate that Border was under the influence of drugs the day he was booked into jail.

Originally, Palumbo indicated that Border was not under the influence of drugs that day, the letter says.

Border’s family has filed a $750,000 lawsuit against the county, alleging that corrections officers and medical personnel failed to take the proper steps to treat Border’s overdose.