WARREN Court: Potts' record will not be expunged

The appellate court says Reggie Potts is not considered a first-time offender.
WARREN -- The 11th District Court of Appeals has ruled that the criminal record of a former Bazetta police chief will not be expunged.
The decision was handed down Wednesday after being appealed earlier this year by the Trumbull County prosecutor's office.
Judge W. Wyatt McKay ruled in February to seal the record of Reggie Potts, who was fired from his chief's job in 1993 after being convicted of theft in office, a misdemeanor count of falsification and a misdemeanor count of tampering with evidence.
He had been chief since 1978.
Prosecutors have said Potts' record should not be expunged because he was convicted of more than one offense. First-time nonviolent offenders can seek to have their convictions expunged.
The trial court ordered the record sealed, finding that the three convictions were part of the same act because they were investigated at the same time.
Not the same offense: "The three convictions in this case are not related enough to be considered the same offense, the appellate court wrote in its decision. "The only connection between these crimes is that they were all committed in relation to Potts' employment."
Presiding Judge William M. O'Neill said Potts is not to be considered a first-time offender.
Potts has said he wants the record expunged because he's missed out on job opportunities because potential employers found out about his record.
Prosecutors said Potts gave township undercover license plates to a female friend to use on a trip out of state, that he lied on a document to enable a male friend to become certified as a police officer and that he tampered with drug unit records.
Potts was placed on probation for his crimes.