WARREN — A lengthy investigation into possible ethics violations against Trumbull County Engineer Randy Smith has been closed with no findings made against the elected official.

The newspaper recently received a letter dated May 12, 2020, written by special prosecutor Daniel Kasaris of the Ohio Attorney General’s office to Julie Korte of the Ohio Ethics Commission, which originated the complaint against Smith.

Kasaris said the Trumbull County Common Pleas Court at the request of county Prosecutor Dennis Watkins had appointed Kasaris to look into the charges against the engineer, which were not detailed in the letter. After carefully considering the matter, Kasaris concluded that he is declining to pursue criminal charges against Smith and is closing out this matter.

“We have reviewed the allegations levied against Mr. Smith,” Kasaris wrote. “After reviewing the allegations and possible defenses Mr. Smith could raise; reading ethics opinions on point; examining all the evidence including witness interviews, meeting with witnesses, reading subpoenaed records. … I find insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the allegations contained in your original referral.”

Kasaris wrote that he also considered the defenses Smith could raise against the allegations.

It was Kasaris who had successfully prosecuted another Trumbull County officeholder — former Niles Mayor Ralph Infante — in 2018 on corruption and other felony charges. Infante is currently serving a 10-year prison sentence.

Paul M. Nick, executive director of the Ohio Ethics Commission, confirmed receiving Kasaris’ letter about the Smith investigation.

“The statutory authority of the (Ethics) Commission is to investigate and, when we believe the facts support it, refer matters to prosecuting authorities who in turn determine whether criminal charges should be filed. When a prosecutor declines to file charges based upon our referral, that effectively ends our investigation,” Nick said.

Nick added that all documents and records related to the Smith investigation remain sealed and are private and confidential.

RESPONSE FROM ENGINEER

In response, Smith said he was not informed about the closing of the investigation and was surprised it took a year after the prosecutor’s letter was written for him to learn about that fact. However, Smith said he was pleased to hear about the results.

In a prepared statement, Smith said: “From the outset of this inquiry, I was confident the outcome would confirm that my conduct was at all times ethical and in compliance with Ohio law.”

Former county engineer employee Jack Simon, who was brought in to negotiate road-use maintenance agreements with gas and oil well drillers in the county, said state investigators wanted copies of these agreements. Simon said he remembers meeting with an agent from the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and Identification at a room in the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library. He said they spent some time discussing the road-use contracts.

“They had all these records, and they still didn’t know too much about these agreements,” Simon said, noting the agent was surprised the county didn’t have any agreements with BP, the petroleum company. “You would think they (investigators) would have their act together.”

Simon, now retired, said investigators also wanted to know about Smith’s actions before he was engineer.

“That (engineer) office was the most up front and transparent. You didn’t do anything for Randy unless it was by the book,” Simon said, noting the agents took a lot of Simon’s documents. “I didn’t let them take them without making copies.”

“Although many people questioned the Ohio Ethics Commission’s lack of due diligence at the inception of their inquiry, I commend them for ultimately acknowledging that the dark days … in the Trumbull County Engineer’s office ended when I took the helm,” Smith said. “I am pleased that this vindication sends a message to Trumbull County taxpayers that integrity and ethical conduct are — and shall continue to be — core principles of my office and administration.”

Smith’s predecessor and 2020 primary election opponent David DeChristofaro had resigned as engineer in 2011 amid an ethics investigation. Another former elected county engineer, James Fiorenzo, was sent to prison for one year after a 1994 conviction on six felony counts involving the remodeling of offices at the department’s North River Road headquarters.

2014 OFFICE RAID

The investigation against Smith was thought to begin on the morning of April 3, 2014, when state agents spent more than two hours searching records in those same North River Road offices. As many as a half dozen investigators from BCI were acting on a sealed search warrant. At the time a spokesman for Gov. Mike DeWine, who was then attorney general, said the search was part of an ongoing ethics probe into Smith’s actions.

Smith’s personnel director Herb Laukhart said he was puzzled by an agent’s questions, including queries about his qualifications and alleged nepotism in the office.

“(The agent) ticks off this date on the calendar and … their research was so poor that they picked out a date before this person was even hired here,” Laukhart said, questioning the agent’s research methods. “It was a waste of taxpayer’s money when a simple records request could have been made.”

Laukhart also noted that engineer employees were threatened and intimidated during the 2014 BCI search, when all the workers were placed in a guarded conference room.

“I’m glad this was all in the past, but it was sure stressful times around here,” Laukhart said.

The timing of the raid had paralleled the filing of a lawsuit against Smith by Kendell Lee Stauffer Jr., a union steward in the engineer’s office, who had been dismissed from employment. That suit that had sought Smith’s removal from office also was dismissed.

Other engineer workers and former workers had brought unsuccessful legal actions against Smith. Another lawsuit was filed this month by former engineer’s office safety manager Ken Kubala, who has accused Smith of on-the-job harassment. That allegation, which was originally dismissed in federal court, resurfaced this month before Common Pleas Judge W. Wyatt McKay.