Candidate Seeks To Have His Crime Record Sealed
There’s been a interesting situation shaping up in the race for a Jefferson County commissioner seat. The Democratic nominee, Robert Steve Vukelic, managed to pull out a narrow win in the primary by going around to several decrepit areas of the county with a work crew and personally getting his hands dirty cleaning them up. He also ran a television ad campaign showing his work.
But his volunteer work isn’t the only thing getting Vukelic press coverage, he’s also a convicted federal felon and is currently unable to hold the seat he’s running for. He must either get his record sealed, as he is currently attempting to do, or receive a presidential pardon.
STEUBENVILLE — Robert Steve Vukelic, the Democratic nominee for the Jan. 2 county commissioner seat, is scheduled to face a judge on May 15 to determine if he can take office if he wins the November general election.
Vukelic, a convicted federal felon, has to get the record sealed in his case or get a presidential pardon for him to take office.
Vukelic was sentenced to six months in a federal prison in April 2001 after pleading guilty to misprision of a felony, which is having knowledge of a felony and not reporting it to authorities. Three former members of the former North Ohio Valley Air Authority pleaded guilty in federal court to charges they conspired to receive about $170,000 in improper payments from Vukelic to get a license for the demolition landfill and then hid the income from the Internal Revenue Service.
Source: Herald Star Online
