Former Trumbull County Commissioner Charged with Honest Services Mail Fraud

William J. Edwards, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio, announced today that an Information has been filed charging Demetrios (“James”) G. Tsagaris, age 74, of Warren, Ohio with two counts of Honest Services Mail Fraud.

According to the Information, Demetrios (“James”) G. Tsagaris was Trumbull County Commissioner from January 1999 through December 2006. As County Commissioner, he had a fiduciary relationship with the State of Ohio, Trumbull County and its citizens requiring disinterested decision-making when performing his official duties, full disclosure of the potential motivation behind, and material information relevant to, his official acts, including full disclosure of conflicts of interest, which would provide the citizens of Trumbull County with the information necessary to evaluate his motivations for official acts.

The Information states that, from December 2004 through December 2006, Demetrios (“James”) G. Tsagaris engaged in a scheme and artifice to defraud and deprive Trumbull County, and the citizens of Trumbull County, of their intangible right to his honest services. He is alleged to have accomplished this by taking a personal payment and loan from an individual conducting business with Trumbull County and concealing it from the citizens of Trumbull County. Tsagaris obtained a loan in the amount of $36,551.00 from an area businessman; there was no payment schedule associated with the loan and no collateral was offered. After obtaining the loan, Tsagaris continued to support the businessman’s proposals to do business with Trumbull County.

The Information alleges that defendant Tsagaris failed to disclose to the public, his fellow Commissioners, and other government officials his financial relationship with an individual doing and seeking to do business with Trumbull County. He concealed the nature of his role by filing annual State of Ohio Financial Disclosure Statements for 2004 and 2005 declaring in response to question eight (8) that he had no creditors, thereby not disclosing his self-enrichment and conflicts of interest while conducting County business.

If convicted, the defendant’s sentence will be determined by the Court after review of factors unique to this case, including the defendant’s prior criminal record, if any, the defendant’s role in the offense and the characteristics of the violation. In all cases the sentence will not exceed the statutory maximum and in most cases it will be less than the maximum.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant United States Attorney Justin J. Roberts, following an investigation by the Youngstown office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An Information is only a charge and is not evidence of guilt. A defendant is entitled to a fair trial in which it will be the government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.