YOUNGSTOWN Police impostor is given probation

The defendant failed to appear for a presentence investigation.
By PATRICIA MEADE
VINDICATOR CRIME REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- Anthony P. Taylor received no jail time for impersonating a police officer.
At sentencing Friday in municipal court, Judge Elizabeth A. Kobly gave Taylor 30 days in jail, suspended it all and placed him on one year's probation. She also fined him $200, which he can work off by doing community service.
In November, a municipal court jury found Taylor, 41, of Hudson Avenue, guilty of impersonating a police officer at a South Side bar in July.
Patrolman Frank Rutherford testified that Taylor's appearance -- a constable uniform and badge -- gave the impression that he was a police officer.
A probation officer informed Judge Kobly on Friday that Taylor did not respond to letters telling him to come in for a presentence investigation.
"I didn't get no notice," Taylor told the judge. He said he moved and hasn't been getting his mail.
The judge said if Taylor violates his probation by dressing as a police officer again, she will impose the suspended jail time.
Taylor's sentence -- probation -- was the same as what Judge Kobly handed down last month to other so-called constables Ethel M. Smith, Carole J. Dubose and Curtis M. Bryant.
All are from Youngstown and all are or were employed by Ohio State Police Constable Service at 1355 Logan Ave., operated by La-Roi Dock.
Dock contends that his company's incorporation with the state gives his employees police powers.
Constables, who were once appointed by county judges for townships, have no police powers in the city.
Others
Here's the status of cases involving Smith, Dubose and Bryant:
U Bryant, 59, of St. Louis Avenue, was seen Nov. 8 providing security in a constable get-up at a Steel Street bar and charged with impersonating a police officer and carrying a concealed weapon. He has since been indicted on the CCW charge. The impersonating charge is set for pretrial Jan. 14. On Nov. 25, Bryant was resentenced on a 2000 charge of providing security without a license that he lost on appeal. Judge Kobly reimposed the original sentence of 30 days in jail, all suspended, $100 fine and one year's probation.
U Dubose, 60, of Glenaven Avenue, was sentenced Nov. 18 on two separate convictions of impersonating a police officer. She was charged twice this past summer after being spotted in a constable uniform outside two South Side bars. Judge Kobly gave Dubose 90 days in jail, suspended it all, fined her $100 and placed her on one year's probation.
U Smith, 51, of Mistletoe Avenue, was convicted of impersonating a police officer and sentenced Nov. 18. She, too, was spotted this past summer in a constable uniform outside a South Side bar. Judge Kobly gave her 30 days in jail, suspended it all, fined her $100 and placed her on one year's probation.
Not long after being sentenced last month, Bryant, Smith and Dubose were spotted in police-type uniforms at a Thanksgiving Eve dance for teenagers on Stewart Street, where a fight broke out in the middle of a crowd estimated at 300.
The police impostors had on black pants, shirts and jackets with constable badges hanging from chains around their necks, and firearms on their belts, reports show.
A woman who leases the property told police that she had hired La-Roi Dock to provide security for the dance.
The dance at Early Morning Hall on Stewart turned violent when several girls jumped on a 16-year-old Chaney High School student, police said.
After dispersing the crowd, the officers turned their attention back to the "constables," who had removed and hidden their equipment belts, reports show.
Mahoning County Deputy Sheriff Dorothy Johnson, who was working security at the dance without authorization from the sheriff, remains on unpaid administrative leave, Maj. Michael Budd said Friday. The department is still sorting out her role there with the police impersonators, Budd said.
No charges have been filed against Bryant, Smith, Dubose and Larry Ingram, 42, of Gluck Street, the so-called constables seen at the dance, and none are expected, Police Chief Robert E. Bush Jr. said Friday. The chief said the evidence wasn't strong enough.
meade@vindy.com