WARREN - David DeChristofaro put an end to speculation that had been swirling over his possible resignation by stepping down as Trumbull County engineer Thursday afternoon.
It's a move that heads off a civil removal trial set to begin next week on allegations he misused county property, equipment and resources to further his own political career.
A discovery back in January that DeChristofaro tried to reimburse the county from his campaign fund the cost of materials used for thank-you and Christmas cards for Democrat precinct committee members and political supporters set into motion a series of events: removal actions filed by Niles resident Vincent Davila Sr. and a criminal investigation into the same allegations.
The removal trial, which expanded when Davila's attorney detailed in an amended complaint more allegations of misconduct, made public during depositions taken in the case, is now stopped because of DeChristofaro's resignation - a two-sentence letter addressed to Trumbull County commissioners, the county Democratic Party and the Trumbull County Board of Elections.
Messages seeking comment were left with DeChristofaro, who began serving in 2009. His resignation was effective at the end of the work day Thursday.
Davila's attorney, Subodh Chandra of Cleveland, said ''this case is an example of how one ordinary citizen can stand up against a powerful, but corrupt elected official to make a difference. Mr. Davila simply wanted the taxpayers to stop being ripped off and for Mr. DeChristofaro to be held accountable.''
A second removal action accusing DeChristofaro of neglect of duty will also go away.
Meanwhile, with the criminal investigation still looming over DeChristofaro, Trumbull County Commons Pleas Court has scheduled court time for 11 a.m. July 26 for retired Stark County Judge Richard Reinbold to make himself available for a possible court appearance by DeChristofaro.
No one will confirm and DeChristofaro's attorney Mike Boller couldn't be reached Thursday to comment on what political observers say could be a potential plea to a bill of information on what could be a charge of theft in office.
A bill of information would prevent any criminal case being presented to a Trumbull County grand jury by special prosecutors from the Ohio Attorney General's Office and the Ohio Ethics Commission.
Trumbull County Prosecutor Dennis Watkins called in the special prosecutors shortly after learning from Auditor Adrian Biviano in January that DeChristofaro tried to reimburse the county for certain campaign-related items printed and sent from his office.
At first the engineer attempted to reimburse the county with money out of his campaign war chest and later offered a personal check as reimbursement.
Watkins authored an opinion he gave to Biviano and other elected officials and turned the checks and invoices over to special prosecutors as evidence. Watkins' opinion said that DeChristofaro's actions ''appear to indicate to me that various statutes of Ohio may have been violated.''
Chandra said the criminal investigators did not seek from him information that came out of the civil case, but as evidence came to his attention, it was passed on to investigators.
Monday's civil removal trial was scheduled to take place in the courtroom of Judge Andrew Logan.
Chandra examined the room earlier in the week after a final pre-trial in the case that was being heard by visiting Judge Paul Mitrovich from Lake County.
Chandra and attorney Ashlie Case Sletvold had planned to use a large high-definition monitor to show jurors previously taped depositions taken from Watkins, Biviano, several assistant prosecutors and employees in the Engineer's Office.
One of those employees, Jennifer Bindas testified under oath at her deposition that she did campaign-related tasks at work on county office equipment over the past year. She described herself as more of a personal assistant than an office secretary, using a computer ''flash drive'' to store campaign information and track contributions made to the engineer's fundraising golf outing and yearly Columbus Day dinner.
Bindas' testimony appeared to be the most damaging to any defense DeChristofaro was mounting in the removal action.
DeChristofaro also continues fighting one of three remaining lawsuits filed in federal court that claimed wrongful termination of three employees he fired on his first day in office in January 2009.
In the lone remaining case - the other two have been settled - Chandra, attorney for Nicole Klingeman, said information from the civil case and DeChristofaro's will be a factor as the case continues.
''Mr. DeChristofaro claimed that he fired Nicole Klingeman because his office lacked funds, but then he proceeded to loot the office, so we think that this resignation is a significant admission that he was lying about his true reasons for firing Nicole Klingeman,'' Chandra said.
