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Defendant Steals Millions from Cuyahoga Heights School District
A Broadview Heights man was sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in the theft of more than $3.3 million from the Cuyahoga Heights School District, law enforcement officials said.
Dominick Palazzo, 42, pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of conspiracy to commit mail fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The thefts occurred over a period of four years.
The U.S. District Judge Benita Y. Pearson sentenced Dominick Palazzo to 30 months in prison, and ordered him to pay $3,333,448 in restitution to the Cuyahoga Heights School District.
“This defendant, along with his brother and friends, stole millions of dollars from the children and taxpayers in Cuyahoga Falls,” said Carole S. Rendon, Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.
Joseph Palazzo, Dominick’s brother, was the Information Technology director of the Cuyahoga Heights School District until February 2011. He was responsible for managing the district’s IT Department, which included purchasing hardware and software and making other IT expenditures to benefit the district and its students.
The thefts were uncovered during an investigation that found a multi-million-dollar embezzlement scheme laced with a web of financial lies that left a local school district in financial peril, said Kathy A. Enstrom, Special Agent in Charge, IRS-Criminal Investigation, Cincinnati Field Office.
The district sustained a total loss of at least $3,333,448, as a result of the fraudulent scheme.
Dominick Palazzo was also ordered to forfeit $43,409.53 that law enforcement previously seized from bank accounts that he controlled or that he otherwise paid over voluntarily to the government toward this debt.
“Dominick Palazzo violated the trust that the citizens and students of Cuyahoga Heights had placed in him by funding his personal account with their tax dollars,” said Stephen D. Anthony, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Cleveland Office.
The investigators are to be commended for uncovering this enormous fraud, Anthony added.
Dominick Palazzo, (42), of Broadview Heights, Ohio, was sentenced.
Key Facts
- State: Ohio
- Category: White Collar Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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