So, he'll do no jail time unless he violates the probation order against Village Fiscal Clerk Carol Nelson.
The judge placed Verga on probation for a year and fined him $500.
UPDATE @ 8:43 p.m.:
The jury has exonerated Harveysburg Mayor Verga on the charge involving sexual touching, but has convicted him on the charge accusing him of violating a temporary protection order.
Verga was sentenced immediately.
UPDATE @ 7:43 p.m.:
The jury in Harveysburg Mayor Richard Verga's trial is deliberating his fate at this hour. No word on how long the judge will allow the jury to continue considering the misdemeanor counts for tonight.
Earlier in the day, as trial testimony began, Carol Nelson, the village fiscal clerk who filed a criminal complaint against the mayor in May, said, "He tapped me twice on the rear-end, and I said 'do not touch my rear end.' He tapped my rear-end again and said, 'I reserve the right to touch your butt.' "
Warren County Sheriff Larry Sims said he was present in the village council room when the alleged incident occurred, but said he did not see the alleged touching occur.
"You could tell she was upset," he testified. "She was bothered by what apparently had happened."
Verga took a voluntary leave of absence from office May 22.
His defense attorney, Charlie Rittgers, said, "Dick Verga is a 76-year-old man who's never been charged, accused of a crime in his life." Rittgers said he believes two families, both of whom are involved in the village council, are using the alleged incident to remove the mayor from office.
"They are not afraid to use the court system to get what they want," Rittgers said before Judge Gary Loxley during testimony Friday. "The Nelson family and Sorice family in the last election tried to run him out of office, but they couldn't do it."
Prosecutors said the charges are relevant considering the mayor's alleged acts.
"No person is allowed to touch the erogenous zone of someone not their spouse in reckless disregard," prosecutor Anne Tamashasky said.
Following the initial charge of sexual imposition in May, Verga was charged with two counts of violating a temporary protection order and three counts of intimidation of a crime victim or witness after he was accused of leaving voice mail messages on the phones of Councilmembers Faith Sorice and Jim Nelson, who is Village Fiscal Clerk Carol Nelson's husband.
"The defendant is under the misconception that he can do anything he wants," Tamashasky said.
Carol Nelson was village fiscal officer between 2001 and 2009. She left after the council, which included Verga, voted to eliminate the village administrator, a position her husband held. She returned to the village offices in the same role in 2012.
FIRST REPORT:
The trial for Harveysburg Mayor Richard Verga is underway.
Verga, 76, is charged with sexual imposition after being accused of touching Harveysburg Fiscal Officer Carol Nelson's buttocks prior to the April 28 village council meeting.
The jury was seated for the trial Friday morning. The primary jury consists of four men and four women, with one male alternate. Verga walked into court using a walker.
Verga also is accused of violating a temporary protection order and intimidation of a crime victim or witness in July after he visited a village council meeting, refused to leave and made contact with a witness and household member of Nelson, according to court documents obtained by this news organization.
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