Former Youngstown Mayor Pleads Guilty to Felonies

(YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio) — Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost today announced that former Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone has pleaded guilty to two felony charges.

In a plea entered today in Mahoning County Court of Common Pleas, Sammarone, 77, pleaded guilty to two counts of tampering with records, each a felony of the third degree.

He was immediately sentenced to five years of community control and will be required to perform 30 days of community service with the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

Sammarone was the mayor of Youngstown from 2011 to 2013 and previously served as the city council president.

The plea agreement is the latest part of an ongoing investigation into corruption in Youngstown. Sammarone, as well as David Bozanich, the city’s former finance director, and Dominic Marchionda, a local developer, were indicted in August 2018 on public corruption charges. Their cases remain under investigation by the Ohio Auditor of State’s Office and the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office.

Ray Briya, a Mahoning County businessman, pleaded guilty in September 2019 to five felony charges for bribing public officials, including Sammarone.

The Special Prosecutions section of AG Yost’s office prosecuted the case.