YOUNGSTOWN Pretend cop is found guilty

Police have another constable case pending for two men who did security work at a lounge on Oak Hill Avenue.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Except for authorization to be a cop, Jesse Rutland had all the stuff -- uniform with captain's bars and whistle, mountie hat, holstered sidearm, constable badges and decal-laden Ford.
After a three-hour bench trial Tuesday, municipal Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly found the 76-year-old man guilty of impersonating a police officer, performing security services without a license, improper handling of a firearm in a motor vehicle and having unauthorized police lights and siren.
The judge ordered a background check and set sentencing for May 15. The Sherwood Avenue man faces up to 13 months in jail and $2,450 in fines on all four counts.
Police will release the car after all the decals, lights and sirens have been removed. A videotape of the car had been used as evidence.
Rutland's lawyer, E. Winther McCroom, argued in court that Mahoning County Constables Inc. had been incorporated by the secretary of state to perform private police work. Rutland, for example, used his constable car to lead funeral processions in town.
Countered: Michael J. Krause, assistant city prosecutor, said Rutland passed himself off as a peace officer and carried a weapon without being certified to do either.
Judge Kobly said she found all the evidence conclusive that Rutland was neither a peace officer nor constable. As far as McCroom's argument, the judge said: "A corporation cannot confer that which the law does not."
Kenneth Affeld, an assistant state attorney general, had testified that the Department of Commerce regulates licenses for security guards and private investigators. Affeld said he has no record of Rutland being either.
John Martin of the Ohio Peace Officer Training Commission in London said from the witness stand that Rutland has no peace officer training and whatever certificate he showed police when arrested is invalid. Constables, Martin said, are not regulated by OPOTC.
Rutland received a one-year constable appointment for 1986-1987 from Fred H. Bailey, then a judge at county court in Austintown. No renewals were found, Martin said.
Restrictions: Constables can work only in the appointing county court's jurisdiction and not in a municipality, such as Youngstown, which has its own police and judges, said Detective Sgt. William Ross.
Ross said he has another case pending in Judge Kobly's court for two men who did security work as constables at Partners Jazz Lounge on Oak Hill Avenue.
Police arrested Rutland March 2 as he left a bank on Market Street, where a city patrolman, Dan Mikus, worked a side job as security. Mikus testified Tuesday that he'd seen Rutland go into the bank the past two years in uniform and never questioned his appearance.
Mikus said city police had been told at a recent roll call that it was unlawful for constables to work in the city so he reported Rutland's presence at the bank.
When arrested, Rutland gave Ross the Mahoning County Constables Inc. articles of incorporation. Rutland said he'd just come from directing a funeral procession to a gravesite, Ross testified.
Judge Kobly said she had no doubt that Rutland had been trying to do a good thing and called the situation unfortunate. Had Rutland been trained and certified there would have been no need for the charges.