YOUNGSTOWN — Attorney Robert J. Rohrbaugh II sat at the defense table Monday and Tuesday in U.S. District Court but not in his normal role as a defense attorney.

Rohrbaugh and Terris C. Baker of Canton were on trial on charges of conspiracy, aiding and abetting the theft of government property, and aiding and abetting false tax returns.

Rohrbaugh, 47, of Boardman and Baker, 49, are accused of aiding Brandon R. Mace, 43, a Youngstown man with a history of defrauding the government, in cashing and using a $1,352,779 IRS check Mace obtained fraudulently while in prison. Rohrbaugh also is accused of filing a false tax return for 2015 for not reporting all of the $150,000 he received.

Judge Benita Y. Pearson is presiding over the trial, which resumes today.

Federal prosecutor Erica Barnhill told jurors during opening statements Tuesday that Rohrbaugh and Baker “worked together to convert the check into money.” Rohrbaugh, who had represented Mace in at least one earlier criminal case, “set up the bank account where Baker deposited the check July 15, 2015,” Barnhill said.

The fraudulent check was deposited into the Key Bank that Rohrbaugh used, and Baker later wrote three checks to Rohrbaugh for $50,000 each, Barnhill said. Baker, meanwhile, bought seven cars totaling $278,000 with the money, she said.

The first witness in the trial, IRS revenue officer David Ross, testified throughout the afternoon regarding the investigation he carried out, including the bank statements, auto titles and automotive dealership records he obtained after he was assigned to recover the money from the tax return refund Mace secured.

U.S. Attorney Megan Miller questioned Ross while projecting the documents on a television screen. They showed that Mace filed a business tax return for an Arlington, Texas, company called Speed Werks that had never filed a tax return before 2015 and “had no previous history as a company,” Ross said.

The address where the refund was sent by the IRS was for an apartment, which Ross testified would be unusual for a business tax return. Mace signed the refund check.

Other documents showed that Baker deposited the $1,352,779 check into an account in the name of Chanley Holdings in the Key Bank branch. Baker, with an address in Canton, was the owner of Chanley Holdings. Ross moved quickly to freeze the bank account and was able to recover $671,649 of the money and return it to the U.S. Treasury in September 2015, documents showed.

Rohrbaugh called Ross and told him he represented Speed Werks in the tax matter and explained that Speed Werks was a business that bought and modified vehicles. It was formed in Texas but filed with the Ohio Secretary of State to operate in Ohio.

Ross said he became suspicious of Rohrbaugh’s behavior during his conversations with him about the matter because Ross had just taken steps to take back over $600,000 from the Speed Werks bank account, and Rohrbaugh “seemed nonchalant about it.”

Ross testified that Rohrbaugh told him he “took Mr. Baker to his bank to assist him in cashing the check,” Ross testified. Rohrbaugh acknowledged that the check was for an extremely large amount, but told Ross he “figured it must have been legitimate because the bank cashed it,” Ross testified.

Ross later secured the necessary paperwork to order Rohrbaugh to turn over the money Rohrbaugh received from the tax refund check, but Rohrbaugh did not turn over the entire $150,000.

Neither Rohrbaugh or Baker “were under any illusions that the ($1,352,779) check was legitimate,” Barnhill told jurors.

Mace took a plea deal and will be a witness against Rohrbaugh and Baker, Barnhill told jurors. From federal prison, Mace filed seven fraudulent income tax returns for nonexistent companies totaling $8.9 million in refunds, but the IRS rejected six of them, Barnhill said.

Mace was sentenced to six years in federal prison in 2013 for claiming false income tax refunds totaling nearly $5.5 million, according to a 2013 U.S. Attorney’s news release.

Samuel Amendolara, attorney for Rohrbaugh, told jurors in opening statements that a key to the trial is whether jurors believe Mace. Amendolara said some of the money paid to Rohrbaugh was for legal work Rohrbaugh did for Mace years earlier for which Mace had never paid Rohrbaugh.

Amendolara called Mace a “motorhead” who loves Ford Mustangs and originally is from Berlin Center.