AKRON, Ohio -- Attorney Anthony O. Calabrese III, the son of a judge and one of the most prominent targets of the six-year investigation of corruption in Cuyahoga County, was sentenced today to nine years in a federal prison.
Calabrese, 40, of Bainbridge Township, did not speak before U.S. District Judge Sara Lioi delivered the prison term, which falls on the low end of federal sentencing guidelines. Lioi also ordered Calabrese to pay $132,000 in restitution and forfeit $74,000.
Calabrese pleaded guilty in January to racketeering and other federal charges.
The corruption probe has so far implicated more than 60 elected officials, public employees and contractors, and resulted in more than 40 people convicted and sent to prison, including former County Commissioner Jimmy Dimora and former Auditor Frank Russo.
Few defendants figured into more criminal schemes than Calabrese. Federal prosecutors accused him of being among the most corrupt of all, orchestrating a nearly decade-long criminal enterprise that subverted multiple levels of government.
Calabrese struck a bargain with prosecutors in which he pleaded guilty to charges related to various schemes.
They involved the bankrolling and plundering of the Alternatives Agency halfway house; delivering $80,000 in bribes from electrical contractor Michael Forlani to Parma school board member J. Kevin Kelley; and persuading Alternatives Agency to hire Anthony Sinagra as a consultant.
Sinagra was paid $190,500 from 2002 to 2007. Calabrese later instructed Sinagra to kick back some of the money to two unidentified relatives.
In pre-sentencing documents, however, Calabrese asked Lioi to sentence him to nine years, contending he did not possess the “character shortcomings" of other defendants, such as Dimora and Russo.
“Mr. Calabrese was not engaging in any debauchery or Vegas trips or any other behavior that would jeopardize his family time,” according to the sentencing memorandum.
While Dimora and Russo were embarking on gambling junkets -- financed in part by one of Calabrese’s clients -- Calabrese “remains a family man, a contributor to the community, a churchgoer and a friend and supporter to many,” the memo states.
Calabrese also faces unrelated criminal charges in Common Pleas Court, where he and two other Cleveland lawyers are accused of attempting to bribe two sexual-assault victims in exchange for their requesting no jail time for the man accused of the attacks.
Calabrese, along with lawyers Marc G. Doumbas and G. Timothy Marshall, have pleaded not guilty to the charges and are awaiting trial.
Forlani is serving an eight-year prison term. Kelley is awaiting sentencing on bribery charges. Sinagra performed no legitimate work to justify his fee, and pleaded guilty to bribery. He is awaiting sentencing.
Dozens of other former county officials and business people have been sentenced to prison for corruption-related crimes stemming from a massive probe by the FBI focused on public officials doing favors in exchange for bribes.
http://www.cleveland.com/countyincrisis/index.ssf/2013/06/cuyahoga_county_corruption_def_1.html
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