Accusations Made Against Robert Lyden

Robert Lyden was once the Sanitary Engineer of Mahoning County but has now been forced out of the position due to information that was found during an investigation. Not only did Lyden admit to investigators that he used equipment that belonged to the county to meet up with a stripper and have sex with her, he also steered contracts to a businessman in the New Springfield area. The businessman had already been convicted of a number of different federal crimes, which included bribery. As of August 23^rd, Lyden was forced to resign from his position when the director of human resources for the county, Rachel Livengood, found out that he steered a number of contracts over the span of the past six years, dating all the way back to 2006. Back at that time, Lyden was only a part-time employee for the county but still steered contracts to Dave Sugar. Dave Sugar was the owner of the company but had been sentenced to a little over half a year in prison back in 2003 because he lied in court about bribery.

The report states that Lyden sped up the process of payments for Dave Sugar and allowed Sugar to access plans for different projects. The projects were also re-designed in favor of Sugar which clearly shows favoritism on Lyden’s behalf. The report claims that the relationship between Sugar and Lyden was unlike relationships between other vendors; clearly pointing out the favoritism was involved.

Along with these accusations, Lyden is now dealing with another ongoing criminal investigation. Back in September of 2011, Lyden admitted to the police that he paid a strip to have sex with him and was then blackmailed by the woman for a total of around $1,500. The police records show that he admitted he met up with the woman during hours in which he was supposed to be working and also used the SUV that was issued to him from the county. The woman he had relations with, Gloria J. Prottengeier, is also being charged with extortion. The records also show that Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation was looking into the possibility of an investigation based on possible theft charges but at this time, charges are not being filed against Lyden for that particular allegation. The Mahoning County Prosecutor, Paul Gains, says that the issue was handled which is why charges would not be filed against Lyden. Gain says, “We’re all in agreement that it doesn’t rise to a criminal level.” He also said, “We don’t have any independent evidence to corroborate the existence of a threat, okay? You’ve got a woman who is charged, so her credibility is certainly suspect.”