By Joe Pinchot
Herald Staff Writer
BROOKFIELD
May 19, 2009 07:08 am
—
A former Brookfield policeman convicted in 1993 of falsification was found guilty Friday of grand theft.
Peter J. Pizzulo, 46, of Howland, pleaded no contest to the charge for allegedly starting a fundraising organization to teach the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and then pocketing most of the money. Pizzulo was a sergeant with the Trumbull County Sheriff’s Department prior to his resignation in November.
Another former deputy officer, Anthony Leshnack, 41, of Girard, Ohio, also pleaded guilty to the same offense.
Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge W. Wyatt McKay found the men guilty.
Between August 2004 and April 2008, Pizzulo and Leshnack pocketed more then $50,000, prosecutors said. They used the money for personal expenses such as buying cellular telephones for themselves and others, gasoline, alcoholic drinks, clothing, activities for their children, a poker tournament and Christmas gifts, prosecutors said.
Sheriff Thomas Altiere asked the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation to investigate the men after he determined they had converted funds to personal use.
The men are free on bond.
Pizzulo was found guilty Aug. 19, 1993, by Judge John M. Stuard for including a false statement in an affidavit used to search a Davis Street, Masury, home for drugs. He was a Brookfield detective at the time the warrant was obtained but had left for the sheriff’s department by the time of the trial.
Stuard sentenced Pizzulo to a $500 fine, and Altiere suspended him for 60 days as a result of the conviction.
Pizzulo was one of four Brookfield policemen convicted in a probe of the police department. Former Chief Thomas Jones, former Lt. Frank Murphy and former Sgt. Kevin Cooper were sentenced to house arrest, probation, fines and community service for their involvement in the bugging of the police station.
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