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WARREN -- Two people who collected signatures for Councilman Ken MacPherson's failed 2020 effort to get a referendum placed on the ballot challenging creation of the city's impound lot now are facing related criminal charges.
Joseph Lee Pizzulo, 1197 Adelaide Ave. SE, Warren, was indicted this week on one count of election falsification; and Kayla Charlene Mergl-Farmer faces eight counts of election falsification and a single count of complicity to election falsification.
Court documents indicate that on June 8, 2020, Pizzulo knowingly made false statements in connection with an election.
Mergl-Farmer is alleged to have falsified or made false statements or documents to elections officials on three days in May 2020 and three days in June 2020.
On June 8, 2020, she was charged with complicity to election falsification.
Pizzulo and Mergl-Farmer were among 26 people who collected signatures on petitions of city voters in summer of 2020, in an effort to stop construction of a city-operated impound lot at 521 Main Ave. SW.
PETITIONS SUBMITTED
The group collected 1,709 signatures on petitions that were later turned over to Warren Auditor Vince Flask's office before being sent to the Trumbull County Board of Elections.
Opponents to the impound lot needed to have 1,106 signatures of valid Warren voters for the referendum to be placed on the 2020 November ballot.
After the referendum petitions were given to the city by MacPherson, two council members, John Brown, D-at-Large, and Greg Greathouse, D-3rd Ward, used the 10-day period when the petitions are available for public viewing to go over them to make sure they were done correctly.
"We spent about a week going over them," Greathouse said.
Brown and Greathouse were among the six council members voting in favor of erecting the impound lot. Four council members voted against it.
Because the legislation did not pass by emergency, the city had to wait 30 days before it took effect. MacPherson used that time to gather signatures necessary to have a referendum about the issue placed on the ballot.
Brown and Greathouse alleged there were multiple errors and potential illegal statements on the petitions.
IRREGULARITIES NOTED
Greathouse noted that every signature on at least one of the petitions appeared to be forged.
"My daughter and son-in-law's names were among the ones that were forged," he said. "How did they think I would not notice?"
Greathouse said if either of these defendants go to trial, he hopes MacPherson will have to testify, since he initiated the referendum issue, organized the signature drive and submitted the petitions to the city auditor for validation.
Brown noted that one petitions contained the names of voters from every house on a street in sequential order.
"I've been gathering names on election petitions for more than 30 years, and that is nearly impossible" Brown said.
After reviewing the petitions, the Trumbull County Board of Elections in 2020 determined only 897 of the signatures collected were valid.
MacPherson did not challenge the Board of Elections' determination.
It was Brown and Greathouse who, nearly three years ago, forwarded the information to the Ohio Attorney General's Office for investigation, Greathouse said.
"We periodically would be told the investigation was ongoing," Greathouse said. "I was surprised there were not more indictments."
MacPherson on Thursday said written instructions spelled out what could and could not be done when gathering signatures.
"They were clear," MacPherson said. "There's no room in the system for people who break the rules. If what is alleged was done, then those responsible should be held accountable. It is unfortunate. No one is above the law."
MacPherson added, though, that a presumption of innocence exists.
Since its opening, the city's impound lot has collected $164,760 in vehicle tow fees, $67,050 in vehicle storage fees and $147,847 in impound lot sales, according to city Auditor Vince Flask. It cost approximately $56,000 to open the impound lot, according to city records.
TIMING QUESTIONED
MacPherson questioned the timing of these indictments.
Earlier this week, he turned in approximately 1,109 signatures on unrelated election petitions, hoping to trigger a referendum vote to rescind large pay raises approved last month for city officials. MacPherson needed 944 valid signatures of Warren registered voters to get the pay raise referendum on the ballot.
According to the proposed legislation, the mayor's salary must remain 1% higher than the base salary of the highest paid city employee. The pay rates of many other elected and appointed city officials will be set as a percentage of the mayor's salary.
The legislation boosted salaries anywhere between about 19% to 89%. In all, the raises will cost Warren taxpayers more than $260,145 in 2024 alone. Each time the highest paid city worker gets a raise, so will all of Warren's elected officials.
Greathouse said he asked Flask for copies of the pay raise petitions to, once again, review each one to look for irregularities.