The Mahoning Valley has a long history of public corruption, and Thursday, another chapter was written when former Youngstown Finance Director Dave Bozanich and developer Dominic Marchionda were sentenced on several charges.

"The old school way of doing things are over," said Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

Yost says he was glad to see the men were held accountable for their actions.

"The sentence on Mr. Bozanich, he deserves prison time, I'm glad to see he was led away in handcuffs," Yost said.

Yost says Bozanich violated the public's trust, and the state will not stop when it comes to aggressively pursuing these types of cases.

"They have to be held accountable, or this thing goes viral," Yost said. "Corruption is like a disease, an infectious disease, and if it's not immediately quarantined, it can spread throughout the community very quickly."

Yost says the good people of the Mahoning Valley deserve better government than they're getting but also feels the area is on the right track to weeding out corruption.

"A lot of things have been happening that are good in the Mahoning Valley. As we continue to rebuild the community and the jobs and economy of the Valley, we also need to continue what has been a very long improvement. I don't think anybody can say today that the Mahoning Valley is in the same position it was 50 years ago; it's a night and day difference. It's getting better, and today's verdicts or yesterday's verdicts I should say are an important step on continuing that journey," Yost said.

When asked if there are any current active public corruption investigations in the Valley, Yost said he could not confirm or deny.