WARREN Police charge 3 city workers

Two are charged with breaking and entering, and the third is charged with complicity.
By DENISE DICK
and PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Three city workers have been charged in a break-in at a vacant Hamilton Avenue house.
Authorities said the three took a dishwasher out of the house while they were on the job.
The break-in is alleged to have occurred May 29, but police filed the charges Monday evening.
Adrian Long, 38, and Anthony Howell, 23, are both charged with breaking and entering. Jonathan Davis, 19, a relative of Robert Davis, the city's utility services director, is charged with complicity. All of the charges are felonies.
The men pleaded innocent Tuesday in Warren Municipal Court and are set to return Monday. All were freed after posting $2,500 bonds.
Fred Harris, city safety-service director, said the men are casual workers hired for the summer. He noted the men don't receive benefits and don't belong to unions.
"They are part-time help and work when we need them," Harris said.
About the case
Police said the three were in a city water department vehicle May 29. The men are accused of taking a dishwasher out of a home in the 1800 block of Hamilton Street.
Police said several people in the neighborhood called the police station that day because they were concerned. Callers told police they saw three men put an appliance into a city truck. Police said they did not take any action that day because they were told the matter would be handled internally.
Long was fired the next day, Harris said, but he noted the termination stemmed from a matter with a supervisor, not because of the May 29 episode.
Last week, Harris said the calls about the men's taking the appliance came in to the police department anonymously. The workers told him that they took the dishwasher from the side of the home and were planning to take it to the city sanitation area, he said.
Without anyone coming forward to counter what the men said, Harris said he couldn't fire them.
"If I fired people based on allegations, we wouldn't have a police department," Harris said last week.
Harris said Tuesday that he was surprised the charges were filed.
dick@vindy.com sinkovich@vindy.com