HOWLAND Cops find bag of stolen money

Police said more than $13,000 was found in a garbage bag.
By PEGGY SINKOVICH
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
HOWLAND -- Not giving up paid off for local police.
Five weeks after the Seven Seventeen Credit Union in Hubbard Township was robbed, police found most of the stolen money in a yard in the 8400 block of Huntley Drive S.E.
Police found the money around 10 a.m. Tuesday. The money was next to a garage, hidden under debris, said Detective Michael Begeot of Hubbard Township.
"I received information Monday that one of the suspects dumped the money there as he was running from police," Begeot said. He and Howland officers Eric Hoso and Eric Bowker went in search of the money and found it.
Amount found: Begeot and Police Chief Steve Lamantia said more than $13,000 was found. The cash was inside a plastic garbage bag.
Police declined to say how money was stolen from the bank but said the amount found is slightly lower than what was taken.
"I'm surprised with the recent storms that it was still there," Begeot said.
"The people that live in that location had no idea that the money was there."
The homeowners were not available to comment Tuesday.
"Detective Begeot, our guys and the sheriff department did not give up," Lamantia said. "They were determined to locate the money for the credit union."
Police had originally been told that the money was dumped in another section of the township and spent several days canvassing that area, Lamantia said.
Suspects: Kenneth Tyler, 31, of Tod Avenue, Warren; Eric Rivers, 27, of Tod Avenue, Warren; and Val Bender, 26, of Main Street, Warren, were each indicted on a charge of aggravated robbery with a gun specification, four counts of kidnapping and one charge of illegal possession of a weapon.
Donald J. Tate, 38, of Warren was indicted on one charge of aggravated robbery with a gun specification and four counts of kidnapping.
All four are being held in Trumbull County Jail.
Begeot said three men -- two of them armed -- entered the credit union Feb. 4, shortly before 9:30 a.m. and took cash. The four suspects were captured after a 45-minute chase through a Howland neighborhood.
They fled in a blue Lincoln Town Car before Hubbard Township police arrived.
sinkovich@vindy.com