Warrant issued for arrest of former Warren defense attorney

A warrant has been issued for the arrest of a once-prominent former Warren attorney who made headlines on both sides of the law.
According to Warren Municipal Court Records, 64-year-old Maridee Costanzo failed to answer a summons to appear before a judge Tuesday to answer a charge of permitting drug abuse.
The charge was filed on Monday after police came to Costanzo’s Genesee Ave NE home where someone had overdosed on drugs and was taken to Trumbull Regional Medical Center.
Police note in their report that they have records of four overdoses at the home over the past three months.
A bench warrant was issued for Costanzo after she didn’t appear in court on Tuesday.
Once a well-known defense attorney in Trumbull County, Costanzo was sentenced to eight years in federal prison in 2005 for trying to hire someone to kill her husband.
In 2013, Costanzo wrote a letter to the federal judge who sentenced her, saying she was turning her life around, working to obtain a master’s degree in substance abuse and chemical dependency counseling.
Four years later, authorities from Geauga County searched Costanzo’s Genesee Avenue NE home as part of an investigation into stolen property.
Costanzo ended up pleading guilty to one count of receiving stolen property and was sentenced to probation for two years.