Gliha to Plead Guilty to Dereliction of Duty

April 27, 2018 by John Karlovec

UPDATE: This story has been updated with additional information regarding the dereliction of duty charge related to former county Auditor Frank Gliha’s failure to distribute HUD reimbursement payments.

Former Geauga County Auditor Frank Gliha is expected to plead guilty to a five-count information alleging dereliction of duty.

Special Prosecutor Bryan Kostura filed a bill of information April 27 in Geauga County Common Pleas Court. He told the Geauga County Maple Leaf that Gliha will plead guilty to four of the charges and no contest to the fifth.

Gliha appeared before Judge Carolyn Paschke on Friday to acknowledge waiver of his right to prosecution by indictment and was released on a personal recognizance bond.

The information alleges Gliha recklessly failed, among other things, to design and operate internal controls for the management of the county auditor’s office from July 11, 2011, though April 3, 2018; to obtain through competitive bidding services in excess of $50,000 on two occasions, Jan. 8, 2013, and Feb. 12, 2014; to obtain the approval of the Automatic Data Processing Board for purchase or contracting of equipment, software or services over a nearly six-year period, July 11, 2011, through April 11, 2017; and to distribute annual payments held in an “undivided public housing fund” for fiscal year 2000 after it was discovered in 2012 those funds should have been distributed to the municipalities and taxing districts in which Section 8 housing was located.

The latter charge is unrelated to the investigation Kostura was appointed to conduct — which was how and why former Geauga County IT Director Stephen Decatur was able to embezzle more than $1.8 million of public funds from Gliha’s office. You can read about Kostura’s investigation here.

During the course of that investigation, however, Kostura told the Maple Leaf it was discovered Gliha learned that certain U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development reimbursement payments from fiscal year 2000 had not been made approximately 10 years before he took office, and yet he decided not to distribute those funds when informed of the error in 2012.

According to an Oct. 15, 2012, memorandum, Deputy Auditor Bev Sustar had told Gliha she found a carryover balance of $28,975.10 in a public housing fund while converting software programs. She determined the balance had existed since December 2000.

“By October 2012, distribution was presented to the auditor (Gliha),” Sustar wrote in her memo. “He did not approve the distribution, as it would appear to the townships that his office had not done their job. After explaining that this error was from 2000, before he took office, he still refused to allow the distribution of public housing funds from 2000.”

On March 12, Gliha resigned his auditor’s post. His last official day was April 3.

“Coming to grips with his apparent deceit has been very difficult for me,” Gliha wrote in his resignation letter to Geauga County Commissioners. “I have decided that I cannot continue as Geauga County auditor.”

The commissioners promptly appointed former Russell Township Fiscal Officer Charles “Chuck” Walder as acting auditor. Then, on April 14, the Geauga County Republican Party’s Central Committee met and appointed Walder to fill the vacancy for county auditor.

Upon taking office and learning of the undistributed funds, Walder promptly distributed the funds to the various municipalities and taxing districts in which Section 8 properties are located, including Bainbridge, Middlefield and Newbury townships, the City of Chardon, and Cardinal, Chardon, Kenston and Newbury school districts. Chardon Schools received the largest distribution of approximately $10,677.

Kostura also said Friday that, due to perceived conflicts, Paschke and Judge Forrest Burt have recused themselves from the case and Paschke, as administrative judge, would be asking the Ohio Supreme Court to appoint a visiting judge to take Gliha’s plea and impose a sentence.

He added the parties have discussed a sentencing recommendation, but did not provide any details.

Walder is running unopposed in the May 8 primary election.

Decatur, and his daughter, Stephanie Stewart, have been charged with defrauding the county of more than $1.8 million public funds over an eight-year period — 322 total counts. You can read the latest in the Decatur case here.

Also charged in the Decatur case are a Texas-based IT company where Decatur once worked.

ITERSource Corporation, a privately held company in The Woodlands, Texas, was charged with two counts of complicity to commit aggravated theft, first-degree felonies, one count of complicity to commit having an unlawful interest in a public contract, a fourth-degree felony, and complicity to commit theft in office, a third-degree felony.

Also indicted on the same charges are company President/CEO Eugene Joseph Krus Jr., 63, and Vice President Administration and Operations William E. Kelly Jr., 73, both of The Woodlands, Texas.

Geauga County Prosecutor Jim Flaiz has said there is no evidence any county employee other than Decatur was involved in the scheme to defraud the county.

The Decatur has been assigned to retired Wayne County Common Pleas Court Judge Robert J. Brown.