Former Belmont County Commissioner pleads guilty to mail fraud

A former Belmont County Commissioner and current St. Clairsville City Councilman has pleaded guilty to mail fraud.

Mark Thomas entered a plea of guilty to one count of mail fraud.

On September 30 a federal grand jury charged Thomas with crimes related to stealing more than half a million dollars from an elderly woman with dementia while acting as the woman’s Power of Attorney.

According to court documents, from 2012 through August 2019, Thomas defrauded a client while serving as her Power of Attorney. It is alleged that Thomas took the victim’s money without her knowledge or permission to use for his benefit.

The maximum sentence for mail fraud is 20 years in prison and a fine of $250,000.

Part of Thomas’s guilty plea is a restitution of at least $882,502.

There is no sentencing date set at this time.

Thomas also sent a letter of resignation from his council seat to St. Clairsville Mayor Kathryn Thalman on Monday.