Plumber sentenced to jail for theft

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A heating and plumbing company owner pleaded guilty to stealing more than $131,000 from a family member’s estate and was sentenced to 80 days in jail, according to a news release from the state Department of Justice.

Zygmund Jablonski Jr., 53, of Ashland, took the money from his wife’s deceased uncle’s estate while Jablonski served as the estate’s personal representative. When the uncle, James Sanders, died, he had at least $162,000 in the bank, and Jablonski wrote $159,300 worth of checks from the estate to himself and his company, A to Z Plumbing & Heating Inc.

The DOJ’s Nov. 6 criminal complaint against Jablonski noted that he had paid back $27,850. In his first court appearance Wednesday, Jablonski pleaded guilty to one count of theft by trustee or bailee. Ashland County Circuit Judge Robert Eaton handed down the sentence the same day.

Eaton also ordered Jablonski to pay back the rest of the money. According to the DOJ news release, Jablonski already made that payment.

Jablonski, in a Nov. 7 interview, said he got into trouble because he did not know the law regarding borrowing money from an estate.

Court records show Jablonski has not yet paid $99,862.31 in tax warrants filed against him this year by the Department of Revenue. His company also has two delinquent unemployment tax warrants.