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Former Smithfield Mayor Found Guilty in Jefferson County

A Jefferson County Common Pleas Court jury deliberated about two hours on Wednesday evening before finding former Smithfield Mayor Patricia Freeland guilty of forging an insurance document and failing to turn wage tax money collected from village employees over to the state.

Freeland, 74, faces up to four years in prison.

Visiting Judge John Mark Solovan said he will schedule sentencing in several weeks after a presentence investigation is completed by the county’s adult probation department.

Two of the charges stemmed from a break-in at the village’s wastewater building in July 2009. Pumps were reported stolen but a state auditor’s office investigator said the pumps were damaged and not taken.

The village submitted an insurance claim, with testimony showing Freeland handling the paperwork on the claim. Testimony showed an invoice for pumps installed in 2008 was combined with an August 2009 quote for pumps, which weren’t purchased, onto one document. The forged document was submitted and an insurance company made partial payment for the pumps that were never installed. The money was deposited into the village’s general fund.

State law requires municipal officials to collect and remit wage taxes of employees. Solovan told the jury ignorance of the requirement is not a defense.

Both federal and state wage taxes weren’t remitted from 2001 through 2014. Chris Rudy, a state auditor’s investigator, said the IRS took $25,000 from a village’s bank account for the federal taxes.

Freeland, who took the stand on Wednesday in her own defense, said she assumed the taxes were being paid because her pay stub showed the taxes being withheld. She testified she didn’t know she was responsible for remitting the taxes collected.

Two former village clerks in Smithfield pleaded guilty on March 22 to amended charges that they failed to remit employees’ wage taxes to the state. Deborah Coconougher, 51, of Cadiz and Janice McCoy, 55, of Rayland, pleaded guilty to the charges when they were amended from felonies to misdemeanors.

Special prosecutor Stephanie Anderson of the Ohio State Auditor’s Office said Freeland wrote “insurance” on top of the forged invoice.

Defense attorney Francesca Carinci told the jury in closing arguments that Freeland had no reason to submit a false insurance claim.

“This woman did everything for the village of Smithfield. She loved Smithfield,” Carinci said.

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