YOUNGSTOWN — Former Mahoning County Commissioner Frank Lordi — convicted in 1999 of four crimes, including theft in office — insists he is innocent and has written a book to give his side of what happened.

Lordi said he wrote the 219-page book, “Framed Innocence: My Fight for Justice,” because “the full story has never been told. I have no animosity toward the judges or the special prosecutors. I believe in my heart the public knows the political system is corrupt, but they don’t know how it is corrupt.”

Lordi said he was unjustly convicted by “political enemies” who “needed a big name target, and as commissioner I was one of them.”

On Feb. 24, 1999, Lordi, who was serving his second term as commissioner, was found guilty of felony counts of theft in office and having an unlawful interest in a public contract as well as two misdemeanor convictions of conflict of interest.

The theft in office conviction was for using two county workers to collect nominating petitions and bring them to the board of elections on county time for the “Democrats for Change” movement. The value of the time the employees spent doing that was estimated at $200.

The unlawful interest conviction was for voting as a commissioner on a county loan that involved his business, ABC Fire Extinguisher. The convictions for conflict of interest were for using his office to secure fire equipment business from private companies who received county funding.

He was found not guilty on 14 other counts, while much more serious charges of arson and insurance fraud were dropped from an indictment before his trial.

Lordi was sentenced to 18 months in prison and ended up serving about half of that.

Lordi said he did nothing wrong, and his prosecution was “retribution for defeating the Mahoning County Democratic machine.”

As one of the leaders of the Democrats for Change movement, Lordi helped take away control of the county Democratic Party from longtime party boss Don Hanni Jr. and defeat some county officeholders.

“This was all about politics,” Lordi said.

After his conviction in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court, Lordi went to the 7th District Court of Appeals, where his appeal was rejected by a 2-1 vote. The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear the case. After Lordi was released from prison, he sought to have the U.S. Supreme Court hear his case, but that request wasn’t granted.

Lordi recently filed an application for a pardon with Gov. Mike DeWine’s office. He also plans to file for the sealing of his criminal records.

A Democrat, Lordi has become a supporter of Donald Trump, a Republican, and compared his conviction to the president’s impeachment by the U.S. House.

“What’s going on in Washington spurred me on even more” to write the book and seek a pardon, he said. “It looks to me like we had similar corruption going on in the cases against me and the president. I’m a Trump guy. I supported him the last time, and this time he’ll win by a larger margin. I don’t get concerned about what he says. I’m concerned about what he’s doing for our country. I can see why people are drawn to him.”

Lordi said he wrote the book “for my family and friends who stuck behind me through this whole ordeal from the moment I got indicted until I was released from state prison.”

Lordi has mixed comments about David Betras, the special prosecutor who successfully convicted him on the four counts.

“It was a weak prosecution,” Lordi said.

Said Betras, “The court found him guilty. The court of appeals found him guilty. I can’t help it that Frank Lordi won’t accept the fact he’s a convicted felon and broke the law. As a convicted felon, it’s got to be hard for him. Maybe he has a revisionist history. He was a corrupt public official.”

Betras added, “I’m having my lawyers review the book for any libelous statements. If we find any, I will sue him.”

About a decade after he was special prosecutor, Betras was elected county Democratic chairman and served for 10 years before resigning last year.

Lordi’s book is available for $9.99 for the Kindle version and $14.95 for the softcover version on Amazon.