CANTON – Gambling once again landed former Stark County employee Vincent Frustaci in trouble.

“He apologizes for everything. The pain he’s caused to his friends,” his attorney Sam Ferruccio said Tuesday during a judicial release hearing in Stark County Common Pleas Court. “It’s gambling. It’s a true disease.”

Frustaci, who appeared via video from the Stark County Jail, didn’t speak during the hearing. Judge Taryn Heath agreed to release him early from his sentence.

Frustaci had been in state prison since Feb. 1 when he was convicted of felony theft. But until Ferruccio’s comments about gambling Tuesday, it was unclear why Frustaci — who spent time in federal prison after embezzling at least $2.46 million from Stark County years earlier — stole more than $25,000 last year from customers of Crest Roofing Services in Lake Township.

Frustaci previously has said he gambled away some of the county money.

What happened in Vincent Frustaci’s latest case?

The 51-year-old Canton resident pleaded guilty in late January to a bill of information of felony grand theft.

He admitted he collected deposits totaling $25,740 from customers of Crest Roofing, where he served as a salesperson, between June 17 and Nov. 4, 2022, and failed to turn the money over.

He was sentenced to 18 months in prison with the opportunity for early release.

Before granting Frustaci’s judicial release, Heath pointed out that Frustaci had served his time for his earlier crime and the court treated him the same way it would treat any other defendant in a similar situation. Frustaci was no longer on probation for the federal offenses.

“It’s contrary to law to punish him again,” the judge said.

Frustaci had spent more than seven years in federal prison after being caught embezzling from the county while he was chief deputy treasurer from 2003 to 2008.

Based on the fact that Frustaci committed a low-level felony theft offense this time, he finished residential treatment for addiction before entering prison and had a perfect institutional report, Heath said she was inclined to grant the early release request.

She ordered Frustaci to be placed under intensive supervised probation for five years. He must also attend re-entry court, perform 100 hours of community service, and undergo drug, alcohol and mental health assessments and complete any treatment recommended. He must also get gambling addiction services and pay $750 restitution to his former employer.

The judge also ordered Frustaci to maintain full-time employment that had no financial responsibilities.

Ferruccio said his client spent 45 days in a residential addiction treatment program at Arrow Passage Recovery before he was sentenced.

“He did it voluntarily and it was a good program for him,” Ferruccio said. “Hopefully he will be on the straight and narrow.”

Vincent Frustaci carried money out of county office in pockets, bags

In June 2010, Frustaci pleaded guilty to federal charges of stealing more than $2 million in Stark County funds while working for the county treasurer’s office. He carried cash out of the office in his pockets and bags.

For years, he covered his tracks by providing false financial records and forged bank statements to state auditors to conceal the thefts. Authorities determined $2.96 million was missing. The case ended up in federal court because Stark County had received federal funding.

On two occasions in November 2008, Frustacci wrote and signed two checks drawn on a Stark County Treasurer’s Office bank account totaling $230,000. He then withdrew the money in cash at a FirstMerit branch and placed the bills into a cardboard box. He claimed to bank employees that the cash was needed for a Stark Metropolitan Narcotics Task Force undercover operation.

Frustaci was sentenced to 10 years in prison with three years to be served while under supervised release. He was ordered to pay $2.96 million in restitution. The U.S. Bureau of Prisons assigned Frustaci to serve his time at its minimum-security facility in Morgantown, West Virginia. He left the federal prison system on March 12, 2018, according to the bureau’s website.

Twenty-five percent of his earnings in prison and 20% of his monthly wages after prison would be garnished to be applied toward the restitution, according to a federal court’s sentencing order. Ohio’s Public Employees Retirement System turned over Frustaci’s $43,048 pension. He continues to pay restitution to Stark County.

Reach Amy at 330-775-1135 or [email protected].

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