(The Center Square) – The former director of a nonprofit faith organization that worked to help prisoners reenter society pleaded guilty to stealing more than $200,000 from the group.
Attorney General Dave Yost said in a release Thursday that Thomas Ostrosky, 52, was the executive director of The Lazarus Experience in Sylvania, and he stole $207,000 from the group and its donors, which included elderly Ohioans.
He founded the organization, described as a Christian ministry, in 2017. It is no longer in operation.
“The defendant exploited the goodwill of donors who believed in the organization’s mission,” Yost said. “Such a shameful betrayal of the community’s trust demands accountability.”
Ostrosky pleaded guilty to felony charges of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity, theft from a person in a protected class, solicitation fraud and telecommunications fraud.
Ostrosky was indicted April 14 by a Lucas County grand jury and arrested two days later in Dade City, Fla.
He’s expected to be sentenced Dec. 2 in Lucas County.
