YOUNGSTOWN — A Mahoning County judge agreed to a request from John White, who was ruled ineligible to run for Youngstown mayor, to seal a 1989 probation violation and a 2012 case in which two felonies filed against him were subsequently dismissed.

Common Pleas Court Judge Anthony Donofrio approved the expungement request Tuesday, the day after the Mahoning County Board of Elections rejected White as an independent candidate for Youngstown mayor saying he wasn’t eligible under a city charter provision. White is considering appealing the board’s decision in either the 7th District Court of Appeals or the Ohio Supreme Court.

James Vitullo, White’s attorney, filed the request to seal the records in the two cases Jan. 2.

Vitullo wrote: “There are no criminal proceedings pending against the defendant and he is eligible for the relief requested. The defendant has other records in other courts, including Youngstown Municipal Court, Austintown and Boardman County Courts, Girard and Warren Municipal Courts, and Trumbull County Court. For the records in those courts that are eligible for sealing, motions to do so have or will be filed. The defendant has not been in trouble with the law since 2012.”

In a May 27 response, Kyle Hilles, an assistant county prosecutor, wrote that the state “has no objection to the relief provided the court makes the necessary determinations.”

Hilles wrote the state “has reviewed the defendant’s motion, has requested and reviewed a current criminal history of the defendant, and has reviewed the applicable and controlling (state) statutes.”

The 1989 case docket describes “a probation violation, but due to its age, no other records are referenced or associated with it,” Vitullo wrote. “The defendant recalls that he was charged with receiving stolen property, that restitution was made and that he served 30 days in jail. The case has been closed for 35 years.”

An online search by The Vindicator didn’t reveal additional information about the case.

In the other case, White was indicted March 1, 2012, on felony counts of arson and insurance fraud.

The court docket showed that White was in the Trumbull County jail on a separate charge during an April 6, 2012, pretrial. Also, while in federal prison on a conviction of being a felon in possession of firearms, White rejected a plea deal on Nov. 26, 2013, to the insurance fraud count with the arson charge dropped.

On Aug. 21, 2014, while still in federal prison, the Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office agreed to drop both felonies.

While White is seeking to have other convictions expunged, he hasn’t requested one for his Jan. 22, 2003, conviction in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court for aggravated arson, which resulted in an 18-month prison sentence.

Also, no request has been made to seal a June 21, 2012, federal conviction for being a felon in possession of firearms — two .9-mm pistols. White was sentenced to 66 months in prison. He was released in May 2016 from federal prison and then moved to a Youngstown halfway house for five months. A request to terminate supervised release was denied Dec. 12, 2018, by Donald C. Nugent, a federal judge, who just wrote that White “will benefit from continued supervision.”

In an April 9, 2012, motion by the federal government in that case – before White pleaded guilty – Gregory Sasse, an assistant U.S. attorney, wrote White “has had 35 criminal convictions” for “drug offenses, convictions for weapons offenses and convictions for violence (including causing physically harm through the use of a firearm).”

Sasse wrote White’s “criminal history virtually screams danger to the community.”

White was sentenced Jan. 9, 2007, in Trumbull County Common Pleas court to six months in state prison for breaking and entering.

WHITE ‘CHANGED’

In his motion for expungement, Vitullo wrote White “was raised on the streets of Youngstown with no adult supervision. As a kid and young man, he got in trouble because he knew nothing else. When he met his wife, he realized he needed to change, and he did. He has not been in trouble since 2012. He is raising a young son. He has immersed himself in his community. He has embraced politics by running for mayor. His wife ran successfully for Youngstown City Council. He cares about the people that he lives among. He supports local nonprofits. He volunteers.”

Vitullo added: “He wants the children of Youngstown to have better opportunities than he did. He is still relatively young (54) and has time to improve himself and his community. His interest in sealing his records outweighs the government’s need to keep them. John doesn’t recognize the person who acted like he did. That person no longer exists. People change. John changed. He deserves the opportunity to move on with that part of his life. The defendant is rehabilitated.”

After The Vindicator reported May 2 that his eligibility to be an independent candidate for mayor was in question, White was arrested by Liberty police that day on two felony counts for an alleged domestic disturbance with his wife, Youngstown Councilwoman Amber White, I-7th Ward, as a result of the article. A Trumbull County grand jury declined to indict him on June 13 with his wife saying at a bond hearing that she didn’t believe her husband posed a danger to her or their son. At the time, White was in the county jail for violating the terms of his bond by allegedly harassing his wife.

Amber White had her criminal record sealed in late 2021. She was convicted in 2012 on two counts of aggravated possession of drugs and a count each of possession of heroin and possession of cocaine.

She told The Vindicator in late October 2023, right before she was elected to city council that her brother’s house was raided and there was residue of heroin and crack cocaine found in the house as well as prescription drugs and she took the blame for him — something she regretted.

NOT ELIGIBLE

The board of elections ruled 4-0 on Monday that John White wasn’t eligible because his candidacy violates the Youngstown city charter.

The city charter reads: “The mayor shall be an elector and resident of the city for the five years immediately preceding the mayor’s election, and not less than 30 years of age.”

White registered to vote Feb. 5, 2021, and first voted May 4, 2021.

Kenneth Myers, White’s attorney in the eligibility matter, said after the board’s decision that he would talk with his client and decide by the end of the week whether the matter would go to the courts for an appeal.

Through Vitullo, White said Tuesday after Donofrio agreed to seal his record on the two court issues that if he can’t get on the Nov. 4 ballot for Youngstown mayor, he plans to run next year for county commissioner.